This is Gerald Lindsly's 'official' home page. (word up: some satirical content) CategoryHomePage CategoryGameProgramming Resume (circa 1999): http://members.fortunecity.com/wizhard (See glResume.zip at bottom of page) Aw, another sign of backwards progress. How does fortunecity.com call itself Dotster? Stupid MFs, quit deleting. Dotted wrong I. Just a silly button on your computer. You must have the brains to know that it is rarely ever needed... Hopefully WaybackMachine can recover the deletion of the above page. ---- Much of the content of this page has been copied to the Wiki at http://cnub.org/WikiDefault.aspx . I was going to delete the content here that I copied to there, but for historical and sentimental reasons I decided to leave this page largely intact. ---- Hey elf, call me a gremlin to take care of dem imps. Okie? Oui, K-No-w. Quick Links: * RecentChanges * Set Wiki User''''''Name: http://c2.com/cgi/wikiOptions * Edit this page: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?edit=GeraldLindsly ---- News: * 2013-06-04: On the loose again. Weather settles soon or just gearing up? Totally missed Sandy. What da heck are they going to rebuild building at Breezy Point anyway? Just by the name you should know that it gets knocked down to the foundation quite regularly. * 2013-04-13 1533: Only ~2 days left! Enter our #free @rafflecopter #giveaway of 3 copies of #Magic Mêlée™ - http://www.MagicMelee.com * 2013-04-11: http://MagicMelee.com is now shipping! * 2012-03-25 0917: Sorry, for the BOOM Airplane accident. NORWOOD, OH. Still in deep .... * 2012-03-23 2147: Tornado Watch Cincinnati, OH USA * 2012-03-14 0548: http://MagicMelee.com is now accepting pre-orders... Oh no, I am such a noob! Artwork is going to take too much time if I I hire only one artist. Now plan is to hire on about 5 of the best. Shoot, working out contracts and terms is not going to be easy. Hiring date pushed back until I can figure this mess out. * 2012-03-11 1102: Potential artists for the 2012 Magic Mêlée™ Artist Contract are looking good. Take a look at my profile at http://www.freelanced.com/a5tg774n3c to check up on those that I gave Kudos. I'll be deciding the winner of the contract on Thursday evening (3/15)... Oo-ooh, the Ides of March! Ominous good luck I hope! * 2012-03-08 1123: http://MagicMelee.com is currently looking for a fantasy artist to do royalty-based work on approximately 100 images for a card game that is similar in some ways to Magic the Gathering. Compensation will be small up front, but I am counting on sales to be able to pay the artist proportionately to how well the game does. Please contact me at gerald.lindsly@gmail.com if you are interested. * 2011-01-11 1111: Critical alignment of decimal calendar? * 2010-08-31 0800: http://cnub.org pretty well up-to-date. Whole system needs a cool off here. Over & out. 0825: Back up... Gonna kick in the after-burners.... 0826: '''True''' '''''Joseph''''' fired up; '''Jodie''' gonna take a while -- AI 5th gear. * 2010-08-30 11~: I just obtained my freedom from yet another 'kidnapping'... Catching up. See http://cnub.org/RSS.aspx for updates to follow shortly. Weather to be extremely volatile for next 10 days. * 1137 misltd: Denise launching a high at Danielle. Confirmed. * 2010-08-24 0157: Charlies doors blown off by Denise. Major high over Washington state. Catfight in store? Long arm of Denise extending NE to low in Canada to New Mexico with severe storm front marching east and south across continental US. * 2010-08-23 1440: Uh-oh, Danielle is hooking left instead of right as of last few hours. Still plenty of room to hook NE eventually (hope). What a big mess in Gulf... Wet Highs continuing to form around near it. ''Water'' temperature likely to have risen quite a bit. * 2010-08-23 1436: Drats! Can't take a break to get caught up with personal affairs? Weather updates to follow in a moment. * 2010-08-23 1212: Many fresh updates to http://cnub.org/Lindsly_vs_Worley.ashx Stirring up a hornet's nest. See bottom of page for latest. * 2010-08-23 0331: Charlie changing base to Dallas. 0711: Sol taking another swing around. Record highs and dry weather in Cincinnati vicinity for a while. Charlie fades as previous Michigan high extends arm SW. Good news but powerful storm front has formed over the Rockies over night. Strong high to NW of US to push it eastwards. High bubbles merging in SW; Charlie story not over yet. NE US getting drenched. * 2010-08-23 0000-8: The '''LORD''' possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. -Proverbs 8:23... 0012: Phew! Thx BlueAngle, Danielle likely to hook NE and remain over Altantic. * 2010-08-22 1754 milstd: Low over Oklahoma fading out and making room for Charlie. Midwest badly needs the rain, but do we have to get oily dumped on us? Storm sewers leaking natural gas all day. Yick! 1950: Midwest thunderstorms develop as volatile air cools? 1953: Not likely, but Charlie looking mighty strong coming up valley. Low over Oklahoma may fade to an awful wet high pushed up Ohio River valley. 2144: weather pic of 2125 shows Canada to get hit by string of deep lows... Some are bound to get pushed SE from up north. 2242: Connect the dots from Mexico/Gulf high to Denver high to Michigan high. Setting up a mean left hook for Danielle? * 2010-08-22 1630 milstd: gj Houston: local flyover of that hurricane research beast enjoyed. Appeared to be heading straight for Charlie. 10-4. over. 1645: Huge cold spot will be eye of Danielle. 1649: Tropical Storm Danielle has formed well out in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. 1742: Crud. 1/2 Olde English HD800 kicking my tail. Putting cork in it and switching to coffee. Looks like I'm on alert. A good ole Coke will get me kicked started. Screw, Pop, Phiz, Oh, What a relief it is! :) * Rational solution to -1^-2 \= -1 + -1 = -2. (-1+-1)^2 = 2^2 = 4. :) * 2010-08-22 1300 milstd: Subtropical High (Inverted-hurricane) Charlie forming rapidly over Denver and Texas. * 2010-08-22 0550 milstd: Perhaps Tropical Depression 6 (not yet Danielle) will put a Whammy on The Great Mississippi River Basin? See http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/will-we-have-danielle-soon-6584 Definitive Cyclone detected. Latest projected path does not include a hook to the NE. With Charlie forming also, a long range path is hard to predict at this point. * BP probably still milking ''relief well''. * 08-22-2010: Subtropical High now forming over Denver. To be inverted-hurricane Charlie? Looks like it will merge with tropical high currently over BP sludge in the Gulf. * 08-21-2010: After an unpleasant and torturous ''vacation'', I am back to work. Local govt due for a wake up soon. See http://cnub.org/Lindsly_vs_Worley.ashx for updates to cover recent history. * 2010-07-15~: I contacted the local Navy officers repeatedly. The US was experiencing record high temperatures and severe thunderstorms due to Billy. We managed to pass a message up the chain of command to the Chief of Naval Operations (Admiral) within a few days. My news was that the attempted reopening of the cap was to be blocked. Navy Marines and Seals should run BP out of the Gulf and seal that wound properly. Dump concrete blocks, nails and cement en mass and permanently floor the area of the blowout. National Guard was to close in on all BP stations within the US and take them over. Nationalized stations to be renamed '''Porto Flyers''' and ownership given to the 51st state: Puerto Rico. BP polluted the Gulf, no doubt, while fooling around in International Waters. Weather patterns severely effected by Tropical Depression 2 and Inverted-Hurricane Billy which was seeded by the heat and fumes rising from the black slick. * 2010-07-08: 7877, an absolute prime in base nine. [Caldwell] * NICE flyover, ty. * 06/16/2010: Hey! Mr. Obama, sir... What BP company? Nationalized soon I hope. Tell dem bitches not to "Drill Baby, Drill" anymore at all. * 06/16/2010: Recent interaction with http://pvx.wikia.com ruffled a few feathers. Wings Of Glass can't tolerate much more of that. http://www.cnub.org/PvX.ashx * 05/30/2010: Recent front page news has me concerned: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/28/us.allies.iran/index.html Turkey and Brazil are trying to get medium grade uranium fuel into Iran. Please put a stop to it, Mr. Obama. Iran has plenty of oil. Perhaps we can ship them solar panels for some of that if they need clean energy. * 05/14/2009: Publishing of the truth concerning '''Lindsly vs Worley, et al'''; begins. See http://cnub.org/Lindsly_vs_Worley.aspx * 02/02/2009: NUB 0.3.0 released. Generalized Index to a customizable template. Unicode keys now supported and huge (17 trillion gigabyte) index and resource file sizes. * 01/29/2009: CNUB.org is shaping up with pages on NUB, Monster Bash, and WTL. * 01/17/2009: I've been busy working on the next version of NUB, but I managed to get around to adding a wiki to http://cnub.org * 11/05/2008: XD * 11/04/2008: I am sorry that due to other constraints on my time, the Johnny Bashful project didn't get far (perhaps some rainy day?). What was produced has been released as the SourceForge project NUB (see http://sourceforge.net/projects/nub) "Currently providing high performance indexing, compressed resource files, and an istream interface for blocks of memory." WaybackMachine (2008-08-21) recovers some interesting historical items: * 07/29/2006: 343 *639 (day 3) Sabbath declared. * Perhaps equipped with the ParadiseMantle? tonight? * Wake up call to Al Qaeda: Israel acknowleges peace: Can we be friends again? * USA interference in Middle East peace talks are rejected. Pope placed Rice under restriction: Diplomatic priviliges canceled. To be investigated in War Crime trials. Execution likely to be ordered. Negotiate sacrifice of 2 USA citizens... Rice and Bush. We don't need their dumb abuses of what used to be honorable UnitedStates peace efforts. WRONG USA!!: Jihad is 'War against the Unbeliever.' This is a Moslem misconception; actually, the unbeliever can be taught the truth best via peaceful conflict resolution. According to CNN and US Propaganda: Al Qaeda is reported as stating: War with Israel is 'jihad' Says Arab and Islamic governments complicit; Muslims must fight'' * 07/27/2006: 345 ^7 Iranians volunteer to fight Israel Enter: Bringer of the Blue Dawn (Level 9)... 7am: SawToothThrusher's +6 SunBurst... Day of Peace, Love and Tranquility ordered, by god. IRAN should aid Israel to bring peace to Hezbollah. * 07/26/2006: 346 <|> - Early AM o>/ Shields up? Drop `\v_ WallOfIce 0/3... [4PM (14 minute warning...)] (7:30pm) : Israel reportedly killed Hezbollah leader. Game over, man, take your ball and go home. Gute Knight. Rice offers one hand to Lebanon, meanwhile... jerking on their tapestry with the other down low: 90 rockets reported fired at northern Israel; 2 die in Israeli copter crash... CeaseFire! * 07/24/2006: 348 - v/ [Check prior week] Pope recommended CeaseFire approved. Wait out today's wild ride on WallStreet. Israel feels there's no choice (& they're probably right). Big bully in the wrong neighborhood for that kind of punk push'n. XRef: Proverbs 8:20 : I lead in TAO (TheWay) d'righteousness. .... The Gift of Peace vs The Art of War. * 07/23/2006: 349 -> Yesterday's militant Israeli attack on bordering villages of Lebanon escalate MiddleEast terrorization by UnitedStates sponsored forces. Mass exodus north of many innocent citizens of Lebanon. More power to you, Hezbollah. [US ferry service limited to privileged few. On Thursday, USS Nashville sailor Williams hollered: 'HEY! Ya better run like heck if ya wanna catch dat dar boat!';] PS: Muslims don't want democracy USA-style. Duh! F'em up ShiiteTsunami. * 07/22/2006: 350 X-> REBOOT.com in store for USA.gov! DEMOCRATIC party to landslide in 2008. Elephant done sucked up just about enough. Prepatory solid slate warmup slam in '06. [(50x7) days to 7/7/7] * 11/29/2005: Mission Accomplished. Now flying over Palm Beach County. V-. * 12/21/2004: USA to impeach Bush in order to cancel embargo. * 12/15/2004: OPEC to embargo USA. Embargo emplaced immediately. (USA is now very unprotected due to WAR in the Middle East. The Army must be brought home for defense at this point). "Peace on earth and good will to all" (Exchange Moppin for Saddam to bring PEACE). See Bible: Genesis Chapter 11: The Tower of Babel. * 12/07/2004: Late with this, but now Colombia? Please don't keep doing this, Mr. Bush. You do remember Pearl Harbor? * 11/08/2004: I guess them ears ain't worth diddley. Sorry Falluja. * 11/04/2004: Good Luck, Mr. Bush. May we have a '''better''' four years from you? We must set the standard for the world; double standards will not work: there is no excuse for a pre-emptive strike. * 10/25/2004: $200,000,000,000.00 put into a health plan for all of us would have gone a long way towards saving Christopher Reeve's life. Support Kerry and our troops by voting democratic. -- Superman would. * 8/31/2004: The '''''Johnny Bashful''''' team is forming up and the project is underway. See below at the end of the Monster Bash hacking info. * 8/27/2004: See bottom of page for a posting of the FAST system's deLZW algorithm (as used by Monster Bash and Scuba''''''Venture). ---- Contact/Search: : email: geraldlindsly@yahoo.com : ''' ''Yahoo'': ''' ''"Gerald Lindsly" http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22Gerald%20Lindsly%22'' : ''' ''Google'': "Gerald Lindsly" http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Gerald%20Lindsly%22''' ---- Partial List of Wiki Contributions: TheWay, WikiIsAnAssociativeStore, JustAnIdiot, PersonnelDepartment, SanitationEngineer, EssentialComplexity, WinDoze, OpenSourceWindowsDrivers, KyleSmith, MeaningfulName ---- A Few Key Credits '''Connect4.com''' (1986): A ''10K'' master demo. Presented at the 1996 '''GDC''' (Game Developer's Conference) in San Francisco. '''The Lo''''''Jack Game''' (1989): Steal a car and try not to get busted in real-time. Watch out for the Lo''''''Jacked cars equipped with remote-operated radio-controlled RECV/XMIT modules. Database powered by '''Solid Software, Inc.'s''' '''''Solid B+ Toolbox'''''. See http://www.lojack.com (careful, this is a real-life game :) '''Monster Bash''' (1993): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Bash '''KIOSK''' at ''' ''Space Center Houston'' ''' (1994): A limited ''Microsoft Space Simulator''. Too bad Bill ran me off with the core ideas I had concerning '''Space Simulator 2.0''' -- These ended up in ''Space''''''Sim++'' by '''In''''''Depth, Inc'''. (1996). '''Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1''' (1995): ''3DS Modeling System/Driver'' and the sound driver. New levels of audiovisual realism reached. Budget Tracking Stystem for Toyota (recent) - Contacted through Take Notice, Inc. and Developing Methods, Inc. ---- Personal Blurb (~2000?) Hi all. I have over 20 years in the software development biz. I have handled most areas of the biz from a proprietor's point of view as well as an employee's. I enjoy both high-level design and system level or engine work and definitely have done too much PrematureOptimization. ;) Some nine years ago, my career took a nose-dive as I turned down a major player which had just (in my opinion, hostilely) taken over the company for which I worked. It hurt to see MY work snatched out from underneath me. Needless to say, I was rather disappointed. Feeling disgusted with my career, I took off on a Walk''''''About. I explored a lot of the country and did much soul searching. After a while, I realized that I really did enjoy programming work and came back to it. I refocused on small non-computer-oriented companies which needed computer work, but I find that I miss the team environment. I am currently looking for a small game development company which could use my skill set. It is one of my trademarks that I publish only perfected work. Yes, perfection '''is''' possible. Work on an idea till you are blue in the face over and over again; eventually... Eureka! It is complete. As an example, many years ago, I wrote a book / software system called '''The Solid B+ Toolbox''' At its core was a '''''B+ tree''''' implementation which I actually managed to ''prove'' perfect (correct) -- not by testing, but by mathematical induction. If Microsoft didn't buy it for their SQL implementation, they more than likely didn't do it right - except that they '''might''' have swiped copyrighted material that was patentable. ---- Btw, as an insider, I ''know'' that Microsoft ''intentionally'' broke the backwards compatibility to MS-DOS mode programs with Windows95. Thinking ''they'' would generate new software to replace the classics that would no longer work on machines that should have no problem with emulating MS-DOS 6.22. The Justice Department should storm Microsoft and turn their stolen resources into OpenSource. No if, ands, or buts about it. No more chances to play clean, Microsoft. You've been playing dirty for too long. I am sure Mr. Bill Gates can see how this once cool little monster called Microsoft evolved into Macro''''''Sloth the monopoly. Allow me to clarify insider... Bill and I have been aware of each other by name since 1980. At that time, my column was published throughout the country in monthly microcomputer user group newsletters. For topic material, I discussed ways I had found to extend the power of the TRS-80s BASIC through machine level code. In 1994, I was lead of the Microsoft Flight Simulator team. Though this product carried the Microsoft name (ie. endorsed Microsoft), it was actually owned by Bruce Artwick (the inventor of the microcomputer version of a flight simulator) and I heartily enjoyed working for him and our team. Enter 1995, Bill decides he wants to own my original work on FlightSim 5.1, Space Simulator II, ''and'' my future efforts. [there were some other factors in his decision to take over BAO --The Bruce Artwick Organization] Of course! btw, the press release describing the takeover said: ''All 30 employees of BAO have relocated and are happy with their new positions.'' I seriously doubt it. A) Their lead was lost. B) Several other key individuals of the team declined positions. C) Microsoft is a grindhouse (slave pen) and the relocated people are not now happy about their decision. Long before I was able to join the team and assume lead, '''''the''''' '''team''' was well known as absolutely industry leading. It is extremely disconcerting that Microsoft chose to destroy it. The Justice Department has issued the statement that "Microsoft is a monopoly". By law, any newly formed monopoly is to be dissolved. "Microsoft, Inc." no longer has any license to operate. That has been canceled. "Windows 2000 Source Code" has been placed into the public domain. Get your own copy and read it. I do not appreciate any cooperation with defunct Microsoft. Thank you. 11/05/2008: The above was written before Microsoft won it's appeal. So far, Microsoft has somehow weathered the Monopoly storm (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft). It's practices have not significantly changed. (See http://www.zdnet.com.au/tag/antitrust-microsoft.htm). Obviously, a boycott is in order. Vista truly does suck. Refuse to purchase any machine that supposedly won't run XP. We should have learned our lesson with Win95's intentional incompatibilities. Too late to nip in the bud, but axing the entire Longhorn/Vista/Win7 branch is certainly possible. See http://reactos.org/ -- GeraldLindsly also known as Wiz''''''Hard, Wiz''''''Hart, Lost''''''Nspacey, Multi''''''Hued''''''Dragon, 1BigFrog, Emerald''''''Dreams, IB4U, Crushed''''''Soul, Wiz''''''Hardted, BlueAngle & C1. ---- ---- In contrast to normal WikiCopyright claims, the works on this page are written under personal copyright and will be moved to cnub.org ASAP. My apologies to c2.com, but this is the most convenient way for me to author/publish creative works temporarily. I just suffered a catastrophic loss to my system setup, but the writers bug won't give up. The original copies of these works exist in HyperWikiSpace (The real exo-Wiki-verse) where the copyrights are established. ty -- GeraldLindsly ''This is the most convenient way for you to author creative works? How about, say, just writing something and saving it to a text file on your own hard drive? Creation and publicity are not the same thing. -- FrancisHwang Ah! Francis has missed the crucial existential point. Pity poor Francis alone in his monoverse.'' ''Oh, don't pity me. Enlighten me. I can take it. -- francis It doesn't work that way. Let us know when you understand.'' The Wiki is rather convenient... Access the net from anywhere (family, friends, library) and I can contribute by sharing my creativity and drive. The feedback from the open nature of the Wiki is desirable. As a musician, feedback is core to harmonious improvisation. Catastrophic loss above meant "Zap!" Gone. I have to rebuild from scratch. Regardless though... Work on cnub.org is under way!! -- GeraldLindsly ---- Favorite Movies: * Indiana Jones Series. 2 & 3 were great, but 1 was awesome. ''The Raiders of the Lost Ark'' The original '''Arc of the Covenant''' is the rainbow (see I Noah thing or two). The spectrum is certainly worth exploring. Warning! Rayders be ''very'' wary and wise. * Need I mention StarTrek, The Movie? Pretty cool user interface at the end: The Man-to-God Transmuter. * Mission to Mars. Many lessons here. When the rest of you figure out that this is something we need to do, we will be able to do it. Looking to the future... Some of you may not be aware that Jupiter was hit by a ''huge'' meteor some years ago. I have no doubt that there is unfathomably intelligent life there that is still going thru severe trauma. We MUST go see if we can help. ''HUGE'' is an understatement - it was one big ass comet - it literally punched a hole thru Jupiter. ---- Drat! Yahoo finally axed a few of my free pages. I didn't get around to updating them on their end. Lots of work under way at CNUB.org ... [Axed] Gerald Wizhardted Lindsly's WWW Nexus: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Screen/2474 This page is quite old - no edits for years, sad that there are now some broken links. (currently undergoing reconstruction... To be moved to cnub.org). Fortunately, I have a mirror for this at at http://members.fortunecity.com/wizhard ---- MONSTER BASH Stuff -- http://www.3drealms.com/bash I initiated the MB project with Apogee Software Productions (now 3DRealms) with an early and primitive prototype of the FAST system. Funny-ass first main chracter was a fat boy strolling along. Had some pretty cool throwing/launching Javelin-like physics in there. Note: you might need a techie to help you install and run it. Unfortunately, the game dates from the MS-DOS era which means that to run it, you may need to boot in MS-DOS mode after adding DOS=HIGH,UMB to your config.sys. Although the game is ancient Chinese technology, it is a classic example of pushing the machine to its limits. In my biased opinion, it is worth the look see. Btw, I designed and coded the ''system'' software. See the credits page. The term FAST, coined by Apogee president Scott Miller as I recall, stands for Fluid Animation Software Technology. At the time when the game was first published, there was no other technology in its class. ''actually, there still is no other... it is probably the best EGA game ever produced.'' ''I ran Monster Bash with no special preparation, but I've yet to complete the first level!'' Hmmm... WinDoze usually doesn't leave enough conventional memory for Bash... Sound''''''Blaster support requires EMS memory too, though the game does put out primitive sounds through the built-in PC speaker. Anyway, I hope you are enjoying it. ''I use an SB16 card to avoid having a separate amplifier. Don't know if that's relevant.'' Not really relevant (though that is convenient). It is rather cumbersome to explain how to set up EMS with EMM386.exe and the proper environment string for Sound''''''Blaster support. Setting these up used to be commonplace - hopefully you can get some assistance from someone who has been fooling with computers for a while (8+ years). ''I like the music, and it definitely comes from the speakers plugged into my SB16 card. The 'blaster' environment variable is set correctly.'' ;) glad you like the music... To get DSP sounds also you'll need to have EMS. ''Nothing wrong with EGA - I still have lots of MGA cards! Somewhat demanding, though, to insist that one's version of MSDOS supports DOS=HIGH,UMB. Does the game insist on a true EGA monitor? I just ditched my last controller which can emulate EGA transparently.'' Well, it is not so portable as all that. Basically, it needs a EGA / PC clone. Todays Supra''''''Micro hardware should have no problem running it. The problem is the broken operating system refusing to run excellent programs. The minimum requirements are listed at the bottom of Bash's home page. If you really want to enjoy the game, set up EMS memory and your sound blaster config. ---- Monster Bash Hacking Re: http://pub128.ezboard.com/fpubliccommanderkeenforumtheclassics.showMessage?topicID=190.topic Yes, that's about as real as it gets. By comparison with the ORiGINAL source, that is quite similar to a file included as part of the Apogee sponsored commercial efforts (MB2 and MB3). It is one of the files included as part of the FAST/Apogee protection/security scheme... BASH1 requires NO crack. It is a free gift to you for sharing with whomever you choose. Oops. If you want to know how this game was written... Write it yourself from scratch-tic-tac-toe-Connect4-AI: A 10K demo master that I copyrighted in 1986 and presented at the 1996 San Francisco GDC (Game Developer's Conference). The game Connect4.COM was universally established as "Game of the Year, 1996". (oops, perhaps some selective recall there... ;) I have since then relinquished the copyright of Connect4.com to the public domain. Much later... With that AI primer, the Connect4 game was completely solved by another person. I am sorry to admit that the structure of MB files is patented by the UN (United Nations). ;) Crackers?! Have FUN with that one! (After a long time in the desert, a drink of water and a cracker tastes like manna). ''szevvy knows what I'm talking about here :)'' I have continued to maintain the genuine FAST sources and inspiration: artwork, music, data, codes, and system design. Dianna Gruber may verify that. She has published some of my "industry standard" technology. At this time, I can offer you these hints: "SEA, Inc." developed the original master compression algorithm and file format (.ARC). It is called LZW compression [Limpel-Ziv-Welch: the scientists who cooperated to create/invent it]. "CompuServe, Inc." used LZW as the basis of their .GIF design. [I call LZW and ZIP "masterful" because they foregoe the "compression lookup table" required by Huffman encoding which was boss before LZW] After MB was published, the LZW algorithm was bought by "UniSys, Inc." and patented. At this time, I am pretty sure that THAT particular patent has expired. UniSys bought it to help protect my copyright (ha! ;). Thanks to Justice Department intervention, Phil Katz then came up with the brilliant .ZIP format to replace LZW and gave it away for free. We owe him a great debt. Unfortunately for us, he has passed on to a plane of higher existence. Thanks so much, PK! I adapted the LZW algorithm for FAST somewhat, but a "standard" decoder for it might decompress the files to the form that they are used internally by MB. Note that, in addition, each of the file types has it own compression/interpretation scheme also (adapted to the particular type of data). MB is actually a HUGE game. Incredible that we managed to squeeze each of the chapters onto single floppies. (toot, toot!) Regards, Gerald PS: id Software (http://www.idsoftware.com) gave me the BASH songs in .IMF format (IdMusicForm). This is one particular reverse engineering job I've still yet to tackle. I wrote the driver/interpreter for .IMF files [so know how they are organized... (Strictly toward high speed)]. I am planning to convert the .IMFs to MIDI (.mid). (Someday... ;) ''Hey Gerald, you mind releasing the IMFs to the public? I love the music from Monster Bash, and I'd kill to get my hands on it. Especially since it's next to impossible to get my computer to play the game with sound. -- Zero X. Diamond'' I am glad you enjoyed the music; however, the music files (along with all other Monster Bash resources) are likely to remain copyrighted between 3DRealms(Apogee)/FrankMaddin/myself/id Software and the original composers/artists & programmers (you could ask id or 3DRealms if ya really wanna know who composed the songs). ''No chance of any more hints about the compression used in Monster Bash? I've been sitting here for hours changing bits in mb1_h10.txt, firing up the game, and looking to see what the change is... not even a *little* hint? :D -- szevvy'' This would take too much space here on my homepage (''well, actually not that much room... LZW source code currently posted to the bottom of this page''). I have some C code to decompress the entries in BASH?.dat files. Perhaps post soon? It really crunches out LZW QIK (of course, FAST!) Any requests to see here? VOTES?: ''you mean apart from me? :D --szevvy'' ''Frenkel Smeijers votes. Zero X. Diamond votes, too. Szevvy would be quite happy to temp-host if it's too big...'' ''I've spent countless sleepless hours working out the files for Monster Bash. I'm up to the stage where I can even draw levels with foreground/background-on tiles, draw most sprites correctly, extract all the music, and so on. However, I've found that there's some kind of error in my un-LWZ'ing, and the background data for level 4 in bash1 doesn't work and drops bytes. Please, put me out of my misery and put that "C/386 code to extract the BASH?.dat files" up so I can see what I'm doing wrong. I've learned all about compression, EGA planes, and much else for this... it's driving me nuts. :D -- szevvy'' Wow! Surprised at the response. I am particularly encouraged by your progress, Szevvy. Way ^5 on redoing the LZW unpack! ---- Here's the promised deLZW algorithm as implemented by the FAST system: /* File: deLZW.cpp I know this is REAL fugly code with all the globals and no comments, but, for one, it is an adaption of a highly optimized piece of hand-coded 8086 assembly code {circa 1992, the machine code for ALL of this 'C' code is only 378 bytes (eat your heart out, GCC and Visual C++ ;) }. For two, you can reference a commented copy of the LZW source from http://www.dogma.net/markn/articles/lzw/lzw.htm . */ typedef int BOOL; typedef unsigned char BYTE; typedef unsigned short int WORD; typedef unsigned long DWORD; static bool eof, rep90; static DWORD* src; // input cursor static BYTE* dst; // output cursor static BYTE* edst; // end of dst (original dst + dstSize) static DWORD buf; // input bit buffer static int size; // current number of bits per input code static DWORD mask; // current mask to AND input bits with (== size**2 - 1) static int bufSize; // number of good bits still in buf static WORD* table; static WORD* lastTableEntry; static WORD* newCode; // points into table where the next bump // in code size will occur. BOOL initLZW() { table = new WORD[0x3D02/2]; return (int)table; } void exitLZW() { delete table; table = 0; } static void put(int code) { if (rep90) { rep90 = false; *dst++ = (BYTE)code; } else if (dst[-1] != 0x90) *dst++ = (BYTE)code; else if (code == 0) rep90 = true; else { BYTE* d = dst-2; BYTE rep = *d++; while (--code) *d++ = rep; dst = d; } } static void putCode(int code) { if (code <= 0x100) put(code); else { WORD* entryp = (WORD*)((BYTE*)table+code); putCode(*entryp++); code = *entryp; while (code > 0x100) code = *(WORD*)((BYTE*)table+code); put(code); } } static int reset(); static int get() { int code; if (bufSize < size) { DWORD d = *src++; code = d << bufSize | buf; buf = d >> size - bufSize; bufSize += 32 - size; } else { code = buf; buf >>= size; bufSize -= size; } if ((code &= mask) > 0x100) code = code * 4 - 0x300; else if (code == 0x100) { if (lastTableEntry != table + (0x3D00/2)) { putCode(*lastTableEntry); if (dst == edst) { eof = true; return 0; } } code = reset(); } return code; } static int reset() { mask = 0x1FF; newCode = table + 0x500/2; buf = 0; size = 9; bufSize = 0; int code = get(); *(lastTableEntry = table + 0x104/2) = (WORD)code; return code; } void deLZW(void* _src, void *_dst, int dstSize) { bool preallocated = table != 0; if (!preallocated && !initLZW()) return; edst = (dst = (BYTE*)_dst) + dstSize; src = (DWORD*)_src; rep90 = true; eof = false; reset(); do { int code = get(); if (eof) break; if (lastTableEntry == table + (0x3D00/2)) { *lastTableEntry = (WORD)code; putCode(code); } else { putCode(*lastTableEntry++); *lastTableEntry++ = (WORD)code; *lastTableEntry = (WORD)code; if (lastTableEntry == newCode) if (size == 12) putCode(*lastTableEntry); else { size++; mask = (mask << 1) + 1; newCode = (WORD*)((BYTE*)table + (1 << size + 2) - 0x300); } } } while (dst != edst); if (!preallocated) exitLZW(); } btw, LZW actually has a VERY good compression rate. Not quite the space savings of ZIP files but reasonably close for most applications. As you can see, the decompression code is quite short compared to zlib. FAST too. ;) ---- ---- '''Make the Change''' (http://members.fortunecity.com/wizhard/Make_the_Change.html or http://cnub.org/Make%20The%20Change.ashx) : If ya wanna be bad now, : Ya gonna be sad, wow, : Positive mind, : Deeds repaid in kind. : Make the Change, : Turn it up, : High we range, : Drink from the cup. : Brink of the fall, : Turn it 'round, : Give it all, : Don't go down. : It can seem : Just a sound, : "Follow your dream, : Chase it down." : Don't be blue, : You got the : Power to : Make the Change. : ... : If ya wanna be glad then, : Ya hafta work hard, Zen, : Pretending blind, : Damage from behind. : Make the Change, : Turn it on, : High YOU range, : Never a pawn. : In your grief, : Rain patters, : You can believe: : "Nothing matters." : Soul torn apart? : Close the rift, : Open your heart, : Receive the gift. : Always be true, : You got the : Power too, : Make the Change. : Copyright (c) 1997 by GeraldLindsly ---- ---- ''I quite like your '''Make The Change'''... do you have the music/theme/tune available somewhere? -- GavinLambert'' Thank you, I am tickled. I guess it is still a work in progress. Mentally, I have the tune/melody, but I haven't written it down. The rest of the composition would fall into place if I would take the time to work it out. I really'' should ''work on it. Since the Yahoo! page for that went down I'm gonna repost it here again temporarily. THX: Since you enjoyed that one, I'll post another: ---- '''Fire One(2)''' (http://members.fortunecity.com/wizhard/Fire_One.html : Upon noticing the flare, : You realize your stare : Had until now missed : When the flames first kissed. : Primal rhythms begin, : Deeper meanings swirl within, : Soothing bursts of color, : Pulsing Love-Trust-Honor. : Out from the heart : Dance forth tones apart, : Chords of fate : Slip past the gate. : Floating delicately, : Wonderous sparks, : Their gentle touches : Leave no marks. : The dying echo : Receeds into itself, : Only to explode : With resounding wealth. : Fire One, wondering "Why : Was it begun?" Spiritual cry! : Fire One, wandering by, : Wherefrom it comes, questioning eye. ... : The vision renews, : Granting your views, : A bright strobing light : Dazzles your sight. : Gift-wrapped boxes, : Full of paradoxes, : Reality dreams, : Nothing's what it seems. : Nothing's impossible, : Fantasy comes true, : Fire burning fire, : The Phoenix soars thru. : Flying higher, : Beyond infinity, : Denying ire, : Off to divinity. : Walking on egg shells, : Pushing on thru hells : Avoiding the coals, : You reach your goals. : Fire One, thundering sigh, : "Wuzzy won twos" Spiritually spry! : Fire One, wandering bye, : Thereto it goes, questioning "I"? --Copyright (c) 1998,2005-06-11 by Gerald Lindsly ---- : Why the bullet-point on every line? I didn't know a better way to format it. Now I do thanks to you. I'll go fix'em. : Are the bullets copyrighted? ''No, you may freely copy those now non-existent bullets. Nice pattern. ;)'' : When you can't afford two employees, Fire One. ---- ---- Programmable Government To be: OpenSource - For all people, by all people (RegisteredIndividuals). Custodian: GeraldLindsly "What are we trying to do here?" Currently known forms of government are hopelessly flawed. Given year 2000.2 and our current machine technology it is theoretically possible to implement a new form of government. One in which the computer will intelligently assist people to achieve goals beneficial to all. "Who can do what?" Anyone can do anything for which they are willing to reap the rewards or pay the price: '''Responsible Accountability''' What I really meant by the question was that we need a centralized secure database to house this information: RegisteredIndividuals, home pages, skill sets. That goes double for: "Who wants to do what?" Jobs, Goals. "Who can see something that needs to be done and does it without having to be told?" Bonuses for autonomous achievements. Cooperation will always get you there faster than competition. After we have established and implemented the above, "What are we trying to do here?" Social Welfare. Basic wRights not Wongs. Better education. More freedom. Spock: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Kirk: Sometimes, the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many. Mission to Mars. Mars-Base. Asteroid belt station. Jupiter, and eventually beyond Saturn (watch out for Sol's Sentinel PLZ). "Let's get busy and just do it!" JustAnIdiot: Not very often, Kirk. Let Spock handle the logic. Scotty: Don't ask me if you don't want to know the answer. I'm not JustAnIdiot. Bones: Spock?! Do something! Computer: working... ---- Mission Job/Task classifications (this and the following section are examples of how such a computer system might handle enquiries relating skill sets to RegisteredIndividuals. Still sketchy... Also needs work to define the query language. Judge: required: good understanding of the Bible (King James Version - Proverbs REQUIRED). Judge: acquired. Total understanding of the Bible. Pilot: acquired: "Lead, Blue Angle." 3 Musicians: required: 1 acquired. request: Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Michael Angelo, Stu Hamm, John Bonham, Jan Hammer, Eric Johnson, Michael Angelo [Megadeth, Metallica, Creed] ---- Eden Job/Task classifications for Foundation: Earth Famia: Oodled. Teacher: "R2D2 said: what?" C3PO: What did you just say, Teacher? Judge: required: Excellent understanding of the Bible. : And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. -- I Corinthians 12:28 Apostles: See Holy Bible. Many Prophets: required. Mucho teachers: required. ---- Comments: 'Inevitably see StoneSociety.' Perhaps inevitably, but let us not trifle with Stone technology at this point. Initially I took a very quick look at StoneSociety (on the Wiki) and saw something very different than what I see now... Not sure where that went. After scanning http://home.san.rr.com/merel/ss.html, it seems to me that Stones essentially represent money but with highly regulated rules about how they are spent. What I am looking for with Programmable Government is a system where positions/jobs can be matched to people/skillsets. Our current society is too limiting in this respect. Each of us has acquired diverse skillsets and is gifted with individual talents. For example, a programmer job would likely not require adroitness on the piano, but the individual fitted to the job might have this skill. I am thinking in particular of ships (this would also apply to companies) needing a broad range of skills but limited to a small set of personnel. 'On a somewhat more serious note, see ActiveInstitutions?.' Ok, been making rounds... This is most definitely not a trivially proposed project. (ProgrammableGovernment). ---- ---- Representative Democracy is undesirable because NONE of US (We, The People) care to have another individual vote for us on issues that matter - particularly not when that individual has proved themself to be an ignorant ladder climber who somehow managed to score high in a popularity contest: ("Hi! This cute sweetie wants your vote and is willing to tell you what you want to hear - integrity, intelligence and wisdom do not matter to me. What was that again? You wanted to hear me say what?") Authoritarian Totalitarianism won't work unless the leader is ultimately respected by ''everyone'' and is a ''true'' '''lord'''. ---- WTC. Wonder why?: In that day shall ''one'' take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, ''and'' say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the '''LORD'''. -- Micah 2:4,5 Nice shot. I can't picture a more risky safe stab at an evil establishment. Thank you. Perhaps we can rebuild, but can we make it a true World Trade Center this time and not a gambling house? ---- ---- {} ---- ---- RECYCLE BIN Sound''''Max: A technology that generates a listening experience more powerful than THX. It is supported by http://www.intel.com and http://www.logitech.com (The best ModulaTwo people along with StonyBrook. Wow!) -- gl Hey! Where'd their compiler go? I suspect that they are keeping that superior technology to themselves at this time. Wise move. -- gl ''If this is the technology reviewed at http://www.hardwarecentral.com/hardwarecentral/reviews/2940/1/, then the above description is confused. Soundmax is simply on on-mainboard audio solution, high enough quality to obviate the need (at least in many cases) to buy a sound card.'' ''What does a Modula compiler have to do with it? And isn't Modula-2 long obsolete?'' Can't stop now to explain acoustics to you at present. ModulaTwo still has its uses. Logitech was a fantastic software company long before they changed their public offerings to hardware. NiklausWirth! :: The sequence approximately goes like this: 8)SUN. Babbage & Ada: Computer? ENIAC, MACHINE, CPU (IBM:Motorola/Zenith2:Intel-Zilog-AMD:), ASM, VAX, PL/1, LISP, Fortran, Algol, Pascal, CP/M, B, BASIC, Modula, C, Ada, Modula-2, C++, Modula-3, Oberon, Java/Sun --> The key contribution by Wirth is PROVABLE Languages. Total genius. -- gl ''Perhaps Java is in this realm?'' Probably... I could almost guarantee Sun borrowed ideas from Oberon (garbage collection for one). I am not sure how provable Java code is. Mutable types would probably cause major headaches. ---- Wiki Friends: DougMerritt (funny... meant to extend this list but never got around to it) ---- Fine print: '''BashedOS''' and '''Johnny Bashful''' are trademarks of GeraldLindsly. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.