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[BloodOmen]

How to get slapped off your wife

Wife - Puts rotisserie chicken on

Me - "Alexa, play Dead or Alive You Spin Me Right Round"

 

[Scouse]

ChatGPT4.5 Crosses The Turing Test Threshold

Machines have never been able to pass as humans in Turing's famous test of intelligence. That has finally changed.

www.discovermagazine.com

 

[Tom]

Digitising a load of old Commodore PET cassettes using a tape machine and a digital recorder, and uploading them so their contents aren't lost forever. Unfortunately quite a few have degraded beyond rescue. Some of them, the signal is so faint that it's barely above the tape's background noise.

Digitised PET software – Google Drive

drive.google.com

So if the program I'm using to convert WAV files to PRG files (WAVPRG) can't decode the digitised sound file's contents reliably, I try and load the tapes into my old PET 2001 instead, and then save them to a fresh tape, so that WAVPRG picks them up much more reliably. It works some of the time.

Annoyingly, some of the titles I have, have basic copy protection on. On a Commodore machine, you can either type LOAD, hit enter, and press play, and the program will load from tape and then await the RUN command once loaded. Or you can press shift+runstop and it'll run automatically once loaded. Well, a few titles, if you try to just load them in, they won't work, because the loader part of the tape recording detects that you haven't used shift+runstop, and basically tells you to gtfo. And if I try to break out of the program after I've loaded it with shift+runstop, it resets the fucking machine. So either way, I can't then save it to a new tape and digitise a much higher quality recording for preservation.

Defeated by some twatting 45 year old copy protection.

 

[Jupitus]

View attachment 50276

Digitising a load of old Commodore PET cassettes using a tape machine and a digital recorder, and uploading them so their contents aren't lost forever. Unfortunately quite a few have degraded beyond rescue. Some of them, the signal is so faint that it's barely above the tape's background noise.

Digitised PET software – Google Drive

drive.google.com

So if the program I'm using to convert WAV files to PRG files (WAVPRG) can't decode the digitised sound file's contents reliably, I try and load the tapes into my old PET 2001 instead, and then save them to a fresh tape, so that WAVPRG picks them up much more reliably. It works some of the time.

Annoyingly, some of the titles I have, have basic copy protection on. On a Commodore machine, you can either type LOAD, hit enter, and press play, and the program will load from tape and then await the RUN command once loaded. Or you can press shift+runstop and it'll run automatically once loaded. Well, a few titles, if you try to just load them in, they won't work, because the loader part of the tape recording detects that you haven't used shift+runstop, and basically tells you to gtfo. And if I try to break out of the program after I've loaded it with shift+runstop, it resets the fucking machine. So either way, I can't then save it to a new tape and digitise a much higher quality recording for preservation.

Defeated by some twatting 45 year old copy protection.

Whatever you can save is a very worthy effort Tom, to be honest! Good on ya!!

 

[Raven]

View attachment 50276

Digitising a load of old Commodore PET cassettes using a tape machine and a digital recorder, and uploading them so their contents aren't lost forever. Unfortunately quite a few have degraded beyond rescue. Some of them, the signal is so faint that it's barely above the tape's background noise.

Digitised PET software – Google Drive

drive.google.com

So if the program I'm using to convert WAV files to PRG files (WAVPRG) can't decode the digitised sound file's contents reliably, I try and load the tapes into my old PET 2001 instead, and then save them to a fresh tape, so that WAVPRG picks them up much more reliably. It works some of the time.

Annoyingly, some of the titles I have, have basic copy protection on. On a Commodore machine, you can either type LOAD, hit enter, and press play, and the program will load from tape and then await the RUN command once loaded. Or you can press shift+runstop and it'll run automatically once loaded. Well, a few titles, if you try to just load them in, they won't work, because the loader part of the tape recording detects that you haven't used shift+runstop, and basically tells you to gtfo. And if I try to break out of the program after I've loaded it with shift+runstop, it resets the fucking machine. So either way, I can't then save it to a new tape and digitise a much higher quality recording for preservation.

Defeated by some twatting 45 year old copy protection.

Have you got in touch with these fellas? They might be able to offer advice, at least.

The Centre for Computing History - Computer and Video Game Museum - Cambridge

The Centre for Computing History is a computer and video game museum based in Cambridge, UK. With a collection of vintage computers and game consoles, many of the exhibits are hands on and interactive.

www.computinghistory.org.uk

I visited Cambridge last year, with the intention of going, but it was closed for renovation.

 

[Deebs]

I remember the days of copying Speccy tapes and cursing like fuck when after the 10th time would still not copy due to protection. The one I remember flashed red/black lines (if my memory is working) during the loading.

Eventually some company came out a device that you plugged into the expansion port which stripped protection so was easier to make backup copies in case the original tape got eaten by a dog. Then I bought the Spectrum Microdrive which was amazing back then for the lowly home user. Ah the memories.

 

[Tom]

Some of that frustration might have been incorrect polarity. Audio recordings don't really care about polarity so it doesn't matter, as long as left and right match. But computers don't like it when you switch polarity because it changes the timing of signal pulses. If you're copying with an average tape-tape deck, the manufacturers never really cared if things were wired properly - the listener would never know.

 

[SilverHood]

Ah man, I remember when my after-school club got a a second external tape thingy for the C64 , and dads would have their kids make copies of all the games we had on tape for the C64. It was slow and cumbersome, and tied up the gaming system for ages. Kids were not impressed! When we moved to Amiga systems, we had two Amiga 500's and 2 external floppy drives. The amount of piracy you could perform on that setup was out of this world compared to the tapes. Kids didn't want toys or games for their birthdays: They wanted empty boxes of floppy disks.

 

[Tom]

I still have my A500 and all the software with it. 99% of that software is pirated.

Funnily enough I think most of the games I played on the C64 were actually bought rather than pirated. £2 for a Mastertronic game was very good value.

I collect Commodore PET tapes. It's amazing how many sellers on Ebay think they're valuable, like gold. Most tapes I wouldn't pay more than £10 for, some people have things up for £60-£100. They're mental.

 

[Deebs]

I still have my A500 and all the software with it. 99% of that software is pirated.

Funnily enough I think most of the games I played on the C64 were actually bought rather than pirated. £2 for a Mastertronic game was very good value.

I collect Commodore PET tapes. It's amazing how many sellers on Ebay think they're valuable, like gold. Most tapes I wouldn't pay more than £10 for, some people have things up for £60-£100. They're mental.

Shame on you Tom, what happened to the 1%? You didn't use your hard earned pocket money?

 

[Carbon60]

I remember the days of copying Speccy tapes and cursing like fuck when after the 10th time would still not copy due to protection. The one I remember flashed red/black lines (if my memory is working) during the loading.

Eventually some company came out a device that you plugged into the expansion port which stripped protection so was easier to make backup copies in case the original tape got eaten by a dog. Then I bought the Spectrum Microdrive which was amazing back then for the lowly home user. Ah the memories.

The Spectrum Microdrive must be quite rare, I didn't know such a thing existed until recently. I had a Sinclair QL so I know all the perils of microdrives although the quality of cartridges did improve.

 

[Deebs]

The Spectrum Microdrive must be quite rare, I didn't know such a thing existed until recently. I had a Sinclair QL so I know all the perils of microdrives although the quality of cartridges did improve.

Yeh those tapes were worse than wet string for storage purposes.

 

[Raven]

Scientists find promising hints of life on distant planet K2-18b

Scientists find new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Tom]

Shame on you Tom, what happened to the 1%? You didn't use your hard earned pocket money?

I remember buying Full Throttle and completing it in a day, and being very annoyed that it was so short. I also bought Elite Frontier and was very annoyed it came on a single disc in a huge box.

 

[Jupitus]

Bunch of fucking n00bs TBH - BBC Micro 'master race' !!!

 

[Jupitus]

Haha @Tom

 

[Scouse]

Game recommendations anyone?

I look through the steam pages and GoG and I just can't find anything that appeals. It's been like that for ages now

 

[SilverHood]

Game recommendations anyone?

I look through the steam pages and GoG and I just can't find anything that appeals. It's been like that for ages now

What are your fave games, and what kind of genre do you like?

 

[Scouse]

I liked all sorts @SilverHood. I'm just looking for something new, you know?

But every game I've played in the last decade has been sort of a rehash of something I've already played. Barring a few notable exceptions of stuff that's been done really well. HL:Alyx was 'new', Cyberpunk was just a really nice experience for what it was, but I've zero desire to go back to, or that genre, at all. Civ, well it's Civ. I've enjoyed a load of indy stuff. I've been thinking a long while that I've hit every genre hard enough and there's nothing novel any more.

So really, anything tbh. But something that made you go "woah, that was different". (BG3 did that for me - 'played it before', but they'd done enough with some bits of it that it felt innovative in it's own right).

 

[Zarjazz]

I liked all sorts @SilverHood. I'm just looking for something new, you know?

No idea if it'll be your thing but Blue Prince is excellent for what it is. An indie puzzle / exploration game in the style of Myst that is extremely polished and original. There's an underlying story you gradually discover and just when you think you've understood one of the puzzles or rooms another layer is then revealed.

 

[Scouse]

That sounds interesting @Zarjazz

 

[Tom]

Game recommendations anyone?

I look through the steam pages and GoG and I just can't find anything that appeals. It's been like that for ages now

View: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1486920/Tempest_Rising/


Gonna be buying this on sale. Roger that. Movin' out.

 

[Tom]

BTW have you played LIMBO or Inside? They're outstanding games.

 

[Deebs]

Limbo is a touch hard for my tiring brain but I do like it.

 

[Scouse]

Not been drinking this year. But a couple of Mojito's (with 7 year old Havana Club) and this?

Fun times!

 

[Scouse]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_edsSpDzHg

 

[Tom]

I put this in the wrong thread by mistake. Anyways, one of the funniest things I've played through in a game ever.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLnL4Ed6jDE