ABUG Canada West Meet Up #28 September 4 2023

[KarateEd]

Well Folks,

Another ABUG Canada has come and gone.
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Wait a minute!!! Who's this?
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Why, it's Paul. Like I was expecting anyone else this day!
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Well Paul arrived safely after his sojourn along the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver to Squamish.
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So on this day my job was to try to solve the issues I'm having with my A3010. It all of a sudden stopped working properly so I took off the IDE podule to take it down a bit for troubleshooting.
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Here's proof that I was earnestly working toward that end.
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I put in the code that I worked out from the diskette lights blinking and found it online, the exact same problem I'm having with my A3010.
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Please note that 1 is a short light and 0 is a long light. I've reversed it on this sheet......

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This was the sheet I was doing the decoding and note taking on. I'd forgotten how the light codes were calculated but I got the hang of it.....again.....
I also discovered that only MonitorType 1 and Auto worked in the *configure. 4 used to work but for now doesn't. What actually happens is the monitor shows connected but I get a blank screen. Not quite sure what to make of that but I suspect for now it's just not recognizing the screen as a MonitorType 4.
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I also got this message floating around the screen while in supervisor mode.
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These were my working conditions. I was in supervisor mode with the message floating around the screen.
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Here's one page of the configuration settings.
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and......the 2nd page.....

I'll continue the tale on the next post......

[KarateEd]

This was the error message I got when I tried to do a *DeskTop command at supervisor.

This shows Paul's new PSU he just got from the UK. He can use a typical USB adapter to make the machine portable. Now I wonder how we get the monitor to be portable?

Paul not only put one of these PSUs in his machine, he gifted me one, the instructions and a Wired magazine, which I love. Thanks very much Paul for the gifts. They will all certainly be used.

Paul told me when I took this picture that it was not a very good score at all but I put it in anyways. Paul did best his high score this day on the game. I didn't come close to besting mine.

You can see that Paul is quite serious about getting a much higher score in this game.

So, Paul caught me in the act of playing Bubble Bobble.

This was finishing up playing Bubble Bobble for the last time this round so.....

On to the next game, Star Striker. This is the first ABUG we've had on a Monday so we got to play two HSC games this day, what a treat!

This was nowhere close to my high score in this game but it was on real hardware so I posted it anyway.

You can tell from the smiles that we had a really great day......either that or we had gas......

So that's the end of my book on this day and I'm sure Paul will be along soon to strike more terror into your hearts with his tales and adventures in ABUG land. Until next time folks........

[paulb]

I also got this message floating around the screen while in supervisor mode.

I recognised it immediately as an Acer monitor message! In my case, I had to get used to seeing it when trying to get an HDMI signal recognised, but I guess this is a plain analogue signal it doesn't like.

Good to see you guys are having so much fun over there!

[KarateEd]

I also got this message floating around the screen while in supervisor mode.

I recognised it immediately as an Acer monitor message! In my case, I had to get used to seeing it when trying to get an HDMI signal recognised, but I guess this is a plain analogue signal it doesn't like.

Good to see you guys are having so much fun over there!

Very sharp eyes Paul. Yes, I'm wondering why it comes up too because I'm just using VGA cable into it from the A3010. Weird stuff sometimes. It's why we love retro.....

[paulb]

Very sharp eyes Paul. Yes, I'm wondering why it comes up too because I'm just using VGA cable into it from the A3010. Weird stuff sometimes. It's why we love retro.....

I think that message blocks the monitor's menu as well, the annoying blighter! I'm honestly surprised I didn't start seeing it in my sleep.

[KarateEd]

Very sharp eyes Paul. Yes, I'm wondering why it comes up too because I'm just using VGA cable into it from the A3010. Weird stuff sometimes. It's why we love retro.....

I think that message blocks the monitor's menu as well, the annoying blighter! I'm honestly surprised I didn't start seeing it in my sleep.

Well, this message is moving around the screen so haven't noticed that it blocks the menu but it does block the on screen information as it moves around, however it also does clear those areas eventually.

[klintworth]

Two months since the last meeting? I guess we've both had a busy summer. After a very pleasant Bank Holiday Monday drive up to Squamish I was greeted by Ed and the familiar Hybrid Music disc on autoplay. Gotta love that Hybrid Music system! I was also greeted by Mitch (Ed's elderly cat) who was keen to escape and find some sun.

Mitch, cat greeter!

I was keen to test the USB PSU I'd installed on my Beeb issue 4, especially with peripherals. It certainly makes the machine lighter without the old weighty PSU, and I marvel how the Beeb can be powered from a USB power bank. It needs at least a 3A supply. As Ed commented above, powering the Beeb via battery is all well and good, but what about the monitor? Something to investigate for the future would be using an LED screen perhaps?

Beeb with USB cable!

The main issue with this USB PSU is running peripherals. I can run a gotek with a USB battery, so that's fine. But my Trekker with the User Port would not 'play ball' (the bulb lit up, but the motors wouldn't run.) So I tried my Hybrid Music system. No joy! I was hoping that maybe the Hybrid Music system would work as it has a separate PSU. It could just be that the 1Mghz port was U/S on this motherboard .......

Beeb with USB PSU, great for basic use, but not for peripherals!

InterBeeb & Adventure Game, + bibles!

In the above photo you can see a couple of the items Ed kindly gifted me; an InterBeeb Control Box and a 3.5" disc version of the Darkness of RavenWood. Thank you, Ed - much appreciated!!

After the testing it was High Score Challenge time with Bubble Bobble. I'd spent a while getting to grips with it, as I'm not a natural gamer. It's very well coded, apart from the strange control keys. I only play the HSC on real h/w! And I managed to get a personal best in time for the HSC closing! Ed gave me a few pointers!

IMG_1559.jpeg (39.46 KiB) Viewed 1263 times

Slight improvement in my score!

Time for lunch! Ed made a wonderful pepper spice based runner bean dish with chicken. Very tasty and filling, washed down with spicy ginger ale. This is like a gourmet ABUG!! I should have taken a photo of it!!

The afternoon was spent with more gaming, trying the new HSC game, Star Striker. Although a Superior title, it is from 1984 and the coding shows it's age and limited game form. My high score was a few thousand less than Ed!!

My limited score in Star Striker!

All too soon it was time to take our usual goodbye selfie, and I had to 'hit the road'! Already I'm looking forward to our next Canada West ABUG.
Until next time ......!