tag=wayback-when
Young Entrepreneurs ship File Manager for Atari 800
May 5, 2008 | Comments Off
The first computer I owned was an Atari 800. While this was not the first machine I worked on (in 7th grade I was using a TRS-80 from Radio Shack to program in Basic and was using an Apple // at a neighbor’s house to play Space Invaders), it was the first machine I had at home every day after school and all summer long!
Here is a photo of what this beast looked like. I had the main unit with keyboard, a couple language cartridges and two of the Atari 810 floppy disk drive units. I didn’t have the printer shown in the picture. 
In order to program this computer I used the BASIC Programming Language. This was loaded into the computer by inserting a ROM cartridge.
The concept of a disk operating system was somewhat limited in those days. If you wanted to move files around on the floppy disks you didn’t have many options. Of course, this meant there was a golden opportunity for someone to create an application to address this shortcoming!
Shareware was all the rage back then so a friend and I set out to build an application that would help with disk management. Of course, back in those days there was no Internet, no concept of registering your domain name, or any notion of taking payments via PayPal. Nope, in those days you had modems and buliten board systems. People ran file BBS nodes using something called FidoNet. Some people had more than one dial-in phone line for their BBS systems. Most only had one phone line, and some had to shut down their BBS systems when they wanted to make phone calls.
Our plan was to build the application and upload it to FidoNet. People would get to use it for free, and if they liked it they would mail us a check for a few dollars. (Yes — using the postal service, a stamp, and a real paper check.) The application was called Disk Master and the company we founded was called Seaview Software.
I don’t have a copy of the software anylonger but did run across a copy of the documentation for our first release.
Cheers!
Rubic’s Cube Solution
May 5, 2008 | Comments Off
Way back in 1980 I spent the year in Munich, Germany going to school. I was in 9th grade at the time and attended an international school South of Munich. During that year the Rubic’s Cube became popular and I like many other school kids had one. It took me a while to figure out how to manipulate the cube in order to complete one side (all nine squares had the same color on that side). Of course, the goal was to figure out how to complete all six sides. Working with friends I eventually figured out how to get most of the cube back to the “factory default” configuration. My friends and I never did figure out how to get the last few pieces into place. To get the last bit of the solution we had to look in a magazine where a solution was published.
I returned to the United States for 10th grade. In my English class we had an assignment to write a technical paper that explained how to perform some task. I decided to write down the solution for the Rubic’s Cube. The attached PDF file contains that solution.
Now, 27+ years later I look back at that writing and can see that even at that young age I was a real sarcastic little sh*t. The whole paper is just dripping with sarcastic remarks. Wow! Not a lot has changed in all these years. I’m not sure that is a good thing, but at least I recognize it for what it is.
Enjoy the solution – I hope it helps you solve the Rubic’s Cube if that is your goal.
Cheers!
