Well, After several different method trials, I finally got a record save routine that isnt bound to any user defined field list - it just doesnt care! And here is a screenshot of the VERY FIRST record PUT into a test database consisting of 6 fields.: unsigned char fname[11]; // character string of 10 chars (11 is terminator) unsigned char lname[11]; unsigned char bday[9]; unsigned char atari; // single char (char or bool type) long costa; // numeric type long costb; Data populated into the fields (so you can see the values): strcpy(fname, "first-name"); strcpy(lname, "last--name"); strcpy(bday, "20240226"); atari = 'T'; costa = -123498; // -1234.98 costb = 98712; // 987.12 Going to work on the get routine now. I also added a couple of functions to print the structure, and generate a piece of C code for the db structure to include in a program, revised the menu a bit, streamlined how I had implemented unsaved changes checks, and open file indicators (now on the bottom line). And I dropped the 2nd "table" art that appeared in the backdrop, now its just a DB icon in ATASCII. And I changed the CHAR type to TEXT (for strings), and created a new CHAR type for single chars - effectively the same as BOOL. I'm debating if I force logical adherence for bools at time of put (code size vs letting user program limit input). I'll do another video after I get record GETs completed. And I will blog about it once I get it ready for use, and the example program complete. THe record starts at "first", and ends at the last "heart". The final character (04) is the data terminator.

Here is a sneak peek of a major project I have been working on for some time. Its a database "engine" for the Atari 8 bits, which uses a file format very similar (not quite the same) to that of xBase (dBase / Clipper). I'm calling the format ADB (Atari DB). It is designed to be a flat file, non relational database. There will be functions to get a specific record, save a record, delete a record (mark it for deletion with a pack function later). It is built using CC65, my C Library, and my unreleased DB routines which are currently WIP. I havent worked out indexing, yet. I know how to implement it, but memory is a HUGE issue. This is essentially a proof of concept to see if it could be done. I always wanted xBase for the 8 bit, now I'm getting close. A long while ago, I blogged about some work I did to read DBF (xBase/Clipper) files. Its here: https://unfinishedbitness.info/?s=DBF The utility shown here is the maintenance utility. It is for creating database structures, viewing basic database information from the database file header (# records, last modified date, etc), and packing the file. Due to memory I will probably have to move the viewing and packing into seperate binaries. You can see its already quite large, so I may end up compiling for XL and using banked memory somehow. After I get the basics working, I have a simple database app planned to exploit it.

This is the result of my weekend project. I started out working on a year old project to create bootable images for classic OS's for my RPi400. I started with MacOS 9, back when the O/S had personality. I had limited success getting it to run on the Pi. While troubleshooting I stumbled on QEMU, and it has the ability to do exactly what I wanted on the Pi, but on my Mac, even better as it becomes immediately accessible. After spending several hours getting it installed, network working with the host O/S, and printer setup (hint, make sure your network printer is actually turned on! Doh!), I finally got a nice booting Mac OS 9.2.1 system that connects to the internet and can print to my network prnter. It emulates a 1 Ghz PowerPC, and feels just as speedy as the 900Mhz G4 I had in the early 00's. I'm trying to document all the steps I did to make it happen, but sadly I didnt track all the notes, so I may not. The one thing I really love about this O/S, Window Shades. I wish they would bring that back.

I've been wanting to do this for quite a while. Earlier this week I found a bug in the service statistics report of my Vehistics program. I set about fixing it, and then decided to finish (mark off the todo) the fuel statistics. Got them down between 1/4 and 1/7. I can sort on the columns, there is an indicator on the one with current sort. This is written in Clipper 5.3. Fun stuff! Samples of data going back to 1999-ish. I have older data going back to early 90's but its not been imported into the database due to the format it resides in. Yup, there used to be a BP station right by me. I didnt used to track the fuel grade, so where not tracked I had assigned just plain old regular in absence of knowing:

I stumbled on this while researching Springboard's The Newsroom. I was going to hold off posting, but what the heck. This is a 2 stage screen. One you press a key, the 2nd screen appears, which has a scroller at the bottom. You're probably most interested in the 2nd one which has Alcatraz mentioned in the scroller. Note they got the title wrong. It should be "The Newsroom", not "The News Room".

HQ, yes its that color.

So we all know what I thought about the Indus titles. I went looking to see how many episodes in total I posted, and found this interesting stat. Check out the download count for the Indus titles! Now I'm trying to understand what makes these episodes so popular? Was it the bashing? Was it because everyone with a drive, and their brothers, had these titles?

While researching podcasts, I ran across the walking man animation I was fascinated with when I was a kid. I typed it in, made some improvements, and gave it a go. It uses character animation instead of a player. All done in BASIC. Fun stuff! Here is the source article:

Article from Antic February 1985.

Article from Antic December 1984.

My old Diamond video capture didnt work with the current MacOS or M1 Macs in general, so I tried this Elgato Video Capture device which was $80. I read mixed things about it working on M1 Macs, but found an article on Elgato's web site pointing to a new version of their video capture software that works with M1, so I took a chance on the USB hardware atually working. Got it today, plugged it in, MacOS asked if it was OK to connect, sure! Started up the capture software and it works perfectly. Actually way better than the Diamond one ever did. Heres a quick capture I did straight out of the box. Notice it is crystal clear, however it is slightly tinted toward purple. In the capture software, you can adjust RGB, Hue and Vibrance (?). I suspect a minor tweak will correct it. The software is written by Roxio I beleive, but branded as Elgato, dead simple to use which is a bonus. I believe this will also work with OBS if you want to stream. Note that the uploaded video was handraked from the original size but still very clear (at about 1/8 the original size of 7.2MB). If you need/want a video capture solulution that includes S-Video and Composite with left/right audio on M1 Mac, this is the way. Not expensive and works like a champ. Wade

Then: (Late 83/Early 84). Before I got my first modem. Before I built my own computer desk. Surprised to see the Rana there, I must have JUST gotten it. 1010 is up under the monitor riser. Star Gemini 10x is off to the right with brown cover. As I think about this because the printer is there too, this was probably Early 84. I'm wearing a Member Only jacket (that didnt survive the winter), probably because this was in the basement in winter in SLC., and I got the printer about 6 months after the disk drive before the end of my sophomore year. To stave off a few questions. a) I have no idea why I had a bear picture. No idea why it was leaning against the table (desk). b) Yes, Wiley E Coyote plush on top of monitor - won it in Vegas at Circus Circus the summer before. c) Yes, large Pioneer speaker on the left. From the SysCom-3300 system I bought with my first job. d) Wendy's cup. I was working at Wendys then (1st job in Utah, 2nd job overall). e) RCA 17" color tv (served me into my early 20's) f) Pac-Man metal trash can I would love to have today. I remember crushing this when i got rid of it. f) Desk lamp is in what appears to be in an optimal position. lol Now: Mid 2023. Desk has seen Atari's come and go over the last few year. Currently home to 800XL with U1MB/Side2, and FujiNet. 1050 and 1030 are in the cabinet below, as are the 7800, 2600 Flashback, and ColecoVision flashback. The new Dell 2408, with a brand new sound bar attached, an unopened RPi400 that I'll get to someday, a Brother Laser printer, 1050toUSB, and a 1/12 scale Suzuki Jimny r/c. Desk has a lot more room without the 27" monitor and Edifier desktop speakers. Questions answers: a) Breakout. I got it for fathers day. Jamie released a new version and I havent cracked this one open. Ugh b) 2 nice heavy color print schematics for the 2600 I need to frame. c) Apple Yum! poster above (search it). d) Desk to the left is the work and non-Atari (modern Mac) desk. Wade

Having a bit of a struggle with getting PMG to work correctly with C. I've been trying to port the Action! code from PMG.ACT (from the Toolkit). I'm hitting a wall setting the PM Base address. Its the MSB of the actual address and is stored in PMBASE (54279) as a single byte. No matter what I do, if I peek the address after setting - it is ALWAYS 255, which is wrong. In my test case it should be 148. This causes the Players to displays "snow" when activated (see black areas on this screen shot). Don't mind all the debug messaging. Those values are all correct, EXCEPT PMB. It should match wPMB shift (which is wPMB / 256): The player width is being set correctly, as it the x location. Presumably the y location is as well since the player is bitmapped into the correct memory spot - I validated this with a string of peeks after setting, just not in this output. I beleive the correct order to setup PMG is: DMACTL or SDMCTL (shadow) GRACTL PMBASE GPRIOR I have tried moving PMBASE before GRACTL and after GPRIOR, but nothing seems to work. PMBASE is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS 255 and I cant figure out why. Heres a portion of the code dealing with setting it:     // If requested mode is 0, turn off PMG     if (bN == 0) {         DMACTL = 34;         GRACTL = 0;         // Save mode         bPMM = bN;     } else {         // If requested mode is 1 (single line)         if (bN == 1) {             DMACTL = 62;             //SDMCTL = 62;         } else {             // Else double line             DMACTL = 46;             //SDMCTL = 46;         }         // Save memtop         wOHM = MEMTOP; gotoxy(0,16); printf("Old MEMTOP(wOHM): %u\n", wOHM);              // 39967         // Find PM base address (bitwise and)         wPMB = (MEMTOP - aMS[bN] - 128) & aAM[bN];   // 38815 & 64512 = 37888 printf("wPMB=%u\n", wPMB);                           // 37888 // PMBASE = (wPMB >> 8); // >> 8; // PMBASE = wPMB / 256;           PMBASE = (byte) (wPMB / 256); // POKE(54279,148); printf("wPMB shift=%u, PMB=%u\n", wPMB >> 8, PEEK(54279));   // 148 printf("APPMHI=%u\n", APPMHI);                       // 23583         // If address is less than application himem, dont enable         if (wPMB < APPMHI) {             DMACTL = 34;             GRACTL = 0;         } else {             // Set new memtop             MEMTOP = wPMB + aPMW[bN]; printf("New MEMTOP: %u\n", MEMTOP);             GRACTL = 3;             GPRIOR = (GPRIOR & 0xC0) | 1; printf("GPRIOR=%d\n", GPRIOR);             // Save mode             bPMM = bN;         }     } PMBASE is a define which acts like a bi-directional pointer: #define PMBASE *((word *) 0xD407) So you can do things like: x=PMBASE PMBASE=y I've also tried chaning this to a byte since it holds a single byte. Nada. I also put the same debug in the Action! code and ran it. They numbers check out, except APPMHI (presumably because a DOS and a cart is loaded with Action!). The rest of the code seems to work. Any ideas why I can't set PMBase?