http://robert.hurst-ri.us The life & times of an information systems engineer Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:23:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Today, I release another arcade classic clone for the venerable Commodore VIC 20.  This time it is based on the 1980 Stern hit, Berzerk.  It did not take 24-years to complete like Quikman possessed me, just a mere couple of months between commuter rail rides and some weekend tinkering.  Still, ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/03/05/berzerk-mmx/ During the Amiga heyday in the early 1990s, I wrote a standalone BBS program called 'Hack & Slash'.  It was a port from an Apple ][ BASIC program, but heavily customized and enhanced using C and "modern" telecommunications and protocols for color, graphics, and sound. I thought I was really clever ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/02/17/an-old-trick-for-a-new-game-for-an-even-older-computer/ I discovered a nifty project, PMS, written in JAVA that allows my Linux (or Windows) workstation stream multimedia (music, photos, movies) to my Sony Playstation 3, hooked-up for viewing in all of its 52" HDTV glory.  It also includes several options to stream other multimedia content directly from the web, ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/02/14/ps3-media-server/ This week marked the arrival of some more toys for my 1980s computer collection.  This time they are for the Commodore "educational" line of home computers: C16 and Plus/4.  What was remarkable about these two models -- that succeeded only in production date to the popular VIC 20 and C64 ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/02/07/8-bit-new-additions/ A "good" joke can be reintroduced every four years and still be satirical ... Some of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and mule ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico. This is a ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/01/19/alien-thinking/ My Internet-TV-Phone are now all switched over from a mix of analog/digital copper to fiber optics.  What can I say about it that has not already been said before by oh so many others?  Wow. The switchover of our analog phone line to digital was totally seamless, including testing our home ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/01/16/fios/ Consider this fickle Boston and pink hat wearing fans: the stock you put into Tommy's comeback has fallen short today.  Again. And fickle is the appropriate word, because you-know-who-you-are have repeatedly (but cautiously) used how the (almost) Team of the Decade are winners, because they play as a team.  You boast ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/01/10/comeback/ With it freezing and snowing today, I decided to make use of the idle time by hooking up my pristine VIC-1541 floppy disk drive to my workstation and do some file archiving to real 5-1/4" media using OpenCBM under Linux. OpenCBM provides an API library and some useful command-line tools.  The ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2010/01/03/opencbm/ I am a big fan of VMware.  Ever since pre-ordering their Workstation V1.0 offering for Linux in 1999, I have been purchasing their upgrades over the years -- the use of VM technology on a workstation for me was a no-brainer.  And even though other VM technologies have emerged, there ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2009/12/31/qemu-kvm/ A nice Christmas gift surprise arrived yesterday in the mail for me -- it was a 14-month old order I made with this online store dubbed Legacy Engineering Group.  From what was reported, between health issues and an unprecedented demand for this product, it made for an equally unprecedented wait ... http://robert.hurst-ri.us/2009/12/25/legacy-engineering-group/