Author Archives: Brad

Commodore 64 Emulation

Posted by Brad

After my son started playing Rock ‘n’ Diamonds, I really starting hankering to play Boulderdash.  Unfortunately, I have not had a Commodore 64 or 128 for over 15 years.  However, about 10 years ago I found C-64 emulators avilable on the Internet.  With a little searching I came across one that works pretty good.  It’s called CCS64 and can be found at http://www.computerbrains.com/ccs64/.  The page talks about the C-64 and has many links to other sites with information and software for the emulators.  Unfortunately, the software links I tried went to a site where you had to register and write a review or visit some other site before you could download anything.  I then found the site www.c64.com where I was able to download Boulderdash.

The emulator has an installation program so it’s easy to get running.  I installed it to my Vista machine with no problems.  When started, it takes you to a C-64 Ready prompt.  I copied the Boulderdash file to the CCS64 folder to make it easy for the program to find and this seemed to be a good choice.  Besides giving you many options from the program menu to setup video, audio, and controllers, you can also have CCS64 find C-64 software files to run from the File | Load and Run… menu option.  This brought up a window where I could choose my software file.  CCS64 then enters the appropriate C-64 commands to run the software (C-64 is all command line for those folks used to point and click).  With the video option I was able to make the screen 3x normal;  there are also options for screen resolutions.  The audio picks up your primary audio driver or you can select one available.  The coolest thing was with the controller.  Boulderdash only works with a joystick, so I could not play with the keyboard.  So I picked up my trusty XBox 360 wireless controller, calibrated it in the CCS64 program, and I was cruising around picking up diamonds in Boulderdash in no time.

For all the old timers out there that had a C-64 or 128 and want to play an old favorite or two, CCS64 plus the freely available game files is a great way to do it.

Return to Dark Castle

Posted by Brad

Dark Castle was one of the first games I played on a Mac, way back when they were black and white.  The game was a clever platform jumper/puzzle solver that had you coming back for more.  You explored a Castle and fought a Black Knight at the end;  in between you threw rocks at robots, birds, etc., maced a torturer, and avoided the bad guys while getting to the exit of the particular level.

I had always wanted to play the game again, and a company called Super Happy Fun Fun (yes really) not only redid the original game – in color to boot – they also added many levels in the tradition of the original.  This game is Mac only, but you can check out a demo, buy the game, and get more info at the Return To Dark Castle web page.   Check it out for some old style, 2D gaming fun.

Spaceward Ho!

Posted by Brad

This is one of my favorite games of all time.  I started playing the 1.0 version for Windows 3.1 back in college (or shortly thereafter).  About 10 or so years ago I picked up version 4.0 for Windows 95/98 at CompUSA for the bargain price of $2.  Recently I picked up version 4.0 again while messing with CrossOver Games for the Mac (more on this later in another post).  While doing this, I found out the makers of the games, Delta Tao, are still developing the game and have released a 5.0 version for the Mac (these guys are actually die hard Mac gamers and have developed every version for the Mac, and versions 1.0 and 4.0 for Windows).  Since I bought version 4.0 for a measely $2, I figured I could pony up $29.95 for version 5 to the developers for the new features and to keep the flame alive.

Now you’re probably wondering about now what the heck is so great about this game that he’s blathered on for a whole paragraph, yet said nothing about it.  Well, Spaceward Ho! is a 4X, turn-based strategy game (that’s eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate for all you non-gamers out there – see Wikipedia for more info) with a nice cowboy theme to it.  You start out with one home planet, a couple of scout ships, a colonization ship, and a huge galaxy to explore.  How huge depends on what settings you chose to start the game.  You also compete against other factions for the planets (again, you choose how many before starting), which can be colonized or strip-mined depending on the terraformability of the planet.  You will inevitably have to fight other races, so you have several technologies you also develop throughout the game such as speed, mini, range, weapons, shields, and radical which let you build more powerful, faster, less-costly ships and defenses.  There is much more to the game (the manual for version 5 is available online) than can be explained here, but essentially the game is easy to learn, but a lot of fun to master.

As mentioned, there is a version 5 currently for the Mac, but version 4 is still available for Windows from the developer.  Go to the Spaceward Ho! page on Delta Tao’s site for more information.

Asus Motherboard with Linux Boot ROM

Posted by Brad

I just read about this in Dvorak’s Inside Track column in the August, 2008 issue of PC Magazine.  It’s officially called Asus Express Gate.  ComputerHope.com says it’s “[t]echnology developed by ASUS and introduced with their PSE3 motherboard that utilizes Splashtop, a Linux environment that is integrated onto the motherboard. With this technology users can turn on their computer and in five seconds be able to access the Internet using Firefox, online applications such as e-mail, Skype and the Splashtop desktop without having to wait for their operating system to load.”

Sure, it’s not a full-fledged OS, but for some quick Internet tasks, it’s hard to beat the load time.  It’s also a great step toward having a fully-loaded OS like Linux in a small package with instant accessibility.  It would be interesting to know what Microsoft thinks of this.

Rocks ‘N’ Diamonds

Posted by Brad

Back in the good old Commodore 64 computing days, there was a great game called Boulderdash. In the game, you ran around an area collecting diamonds while avoiding being crushed by rocks. There was also a timer and an exit to each level you had to reach before the timer ran out. Boulderdash is not available now except using a C64 emulator (which I’m going to try for the heck of it), but there is an open source version called Rocks ‘N’ Diamonds which seems to be a nice successor.

I have not put much time into the game myself, but my younger son is very into it right now. I recently gave him my MacBook, on which I left a Fedora Core 9 VM for him to play games, and after finding the game he’s been hooked. I figured there was a better way for him to play besides running FC in a VM every time and sure enough there is a Mac version of the game (as well as Windows, DOS, and of course Linux). If you like action games with a little bit of puzzle to them, Rocks ‘N’ Diamonds is worth checking out.

Spore Creature Creator

Posted by Brad

My younger son recently downloaded a trial for Spore Creature Creator, a precursor to the Spore game coming in September. He was unable to get the program to run more than once or twice; every other time it would crash to the desktop when executed. I tried basic troubleshooting like closing running apps, shutting down AV, and updating video drivers but to no avail. I even purchased the full product on disc from Wal-Mart and tried it. Not even a reinstall could get it working. So it was time to do a little Googling.

I didn’t think a teaser for a game coming out would have any problems written about it, but apparently the problem I was dealing with was occurring to many people making it a significant issue. Luckily there were references to the EA downloader app (my son must have been prompted to install this when he downloaded the trial). Apparently EA’s downloader conflicts somehow with the Spore app. After uninstalling EA downloader (not just closing, which I had tried) we were good to go.

Cannot Install Windows Updates

Posted by Brad

I’ve had this problem once before, but had to research the specific steps in fixing it because I could not remember each and every file involved. This problem cropped up again after I reloaded my son’s PC with Windows XP after moving his hard drive to a different computer. The situation was that you could download updates but they would fail to install.

The solution involves reregistering several Windows Update DLL files. I found the specific steps at wugnet.com, but I will list them again here:

Try re-registering the windows update components. This may help fix a corrupt installer

1. Click on Start and Run,
2. Type “REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL” (without quotation marks) and press Enter.
3. Should get the message “DllRegisterServer in WUAPI.DLL succeeded” Click OK.
4. Repeat above for each of the following:

REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL

5. Reboot

Now try to install your updates.

I followed the steps but did not reboot and was still able to install the updates after reregistering the DLL files. Your mileage may vary.

TiVo Transfer Quits Working On Mac

Posted by Brad

I recently went on a trip and wanted to take some TiVo shows with me for the plane ride. I hadn’t used TiVo Transfer on my Mac in a while, so I started Roxio Toast to find it so I could download some shows. After starting Toast, I was prompted that an update was available so I downloaded version 8.0.4 and installed it. I then reopened Toast, found TiVo Transfer under the Extras menu, clicked on it, but received the message “TiVo Transfer could not be found.”

I don’t know if I lost TiVo Transfer after my recent update or before, but I first reverted to Toast 8.0.3, then reinstalled Toast from the original CD, but I still did not have TiVo Transfer working. After scouring Google for a while trying to download TiVo Transfer by itself (it only comes with Toast), I finally just searched for a way to reinstall TiVo Transfer. A poster named Greg on Aldoblog provided an answer: “You have to right click on Tosat 8 Titanium and chose Show Package Contents. Then go to Contents, Resources, and copy the TiVoTransfer.tar.gz file to the dekstop or the Toast 8 Folder. Double click on the file and it should expand to the TiVo Transfer application. Make sure that is in the Toast folder and you are all set.” I actually followed his suggestion by opening my 8.0.3 update which has the latest version of TiVo Transfer (1.1.1). So thankfully I was able to enjoy a couple of episodes of Battlestar Galactica on the plane to Washington DC. Thanks Greg.

Google Maps On Your Phone

Posted by Brad

I was recently reading PC Magazine which had 501 tips for computing and I ran across a little gem about Google Maps on your phone. I had been looking at TeleNav because a link came on my Motorola Q, but after downloading and installing it, using it proved difficult, and this was some kind a free thing. If you want voice instructions you have to pay a monthly fee.

So I saw the tip about Google Maps and downloaded and installed it on my phone. The first thing I did is navigate the menu which has an option for GPS location. You have to be outside (although I tried it inside my car and it worked) but Google located me on its maps where I could zoom in and out and save it as a location. If I leave the GPS locator running, it shows my movements as I drive – totally cool and totally free.

There are a lot more options – including the standard directions to/from a location, but so far I really like this app. Go to Google Maps Mobile from your phone or computer and click the Get Started Now blue button to download the app to your computer for transfer or send a link to your phone to download straight to your phone.