Saturday Night Slam Masters

Saturday Night Slam Masters, known in Japan as , is a 1993 pro wrestling arcade game released for the CP System by Capcom. The game features character designs by manga artist Tetsuo Hara, famous for "Fist of the North Star".
The game was followed by an updated version titled "Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle" in 1993, and a sequel called "Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II" in 1994.
Gameplay.
The original "Slam Masters" plays like a traditional wrestling game, only the game used a view similar to that commonly used in the fighting game genre. The game uses a three button configuration (grab, attack, and jump).
Each character has two special attacks: a non-grappling technique and a finisher. When an opponent's life meter is depleted, he must either be pinned for a three-count or forced to submit. Defeating all of the other wrestlers results in winning the championship belt, which must then be defended against the entire roster.
There are two game modes: Single Match, where the player fights in a series one-on-one matches against the CPU; and Team Battle Royale, where the player and another partner (controlled by another player or by the CPU) competes in a series of two-on-two matches. The game can be played by up to four players.
Characters.
The game features a playable roster of ten wrestlers. Only eight of the wrestlers are selectable in the Single Match mode. The remaining two: Jumbo and Scorpion, are non-playable boss characters in Single Match and selectable only in Team Battle Royale. In the English localization, Capcom changed the names of all the characters and modified much of the backstory. The English names are used in this article, followed by the original Japanese names (when they differ) in parentheses.
Series.
The table below summarizes the appearances of every character in the "Slam Masters" series. A green cell means the character is present in that series. A red cell means the character is absent from that series. A yellow cell means the character is present in the series, but cannot be played as. (i.e.: NPC Bosses or ending cameos)
Ports.
The original "Slam Masters" was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis and FM Towns Marty. The Super NES version retains the Team Battle Royale mode (which can be played with the multitap for up to four players), while the Genesis version replaces it with an exclusive Death Match mode. The Genesis version is also the only version of the game that allows the player to select The Scorpion and Jumbo for the Single Battle mode. In contrast to the arcade version, which only used Tetsuo Hara's artwork for promotional illustrations, the console versions of "Slam Masters" for the Super NES and Genesis use Haras actual artwork in the game.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Saturday Night Slam Masters" on their September 1, 1993 issue as being the sixth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.
Reviewing the Super NES version, "GamePro" praised the four-player gameplay, the variety of moves, and the unique graphical touches to each of the characters. They concluded "If you want a breather from intense fighting games, this wrestling cart's a refreshing break."
A reviewer for "Next Generation" panned the Genesis version, saying that the game is generic and unoriginal, and that only the barbed-wire ring in the Death Match "[saves] the game from being horrible." He urged wrestling fans to get "WWF Raw" instead.
Video Games The Ultimate Gaming Magazine gave the Super NES version an overall score of 8/10 praising the colors and sounds, the smooth character controls, and the gameplay as “slammingly brutal”. Stating the game as “A great home version of a great arcade game.”
Sequels.
"Muscle Bomber Duo".
Muscle Bomber Duo: Ultimate Team Battle, released in Japan as Muscle Bomber Duo: Heat Up Warriors, is an updated version of the original "Slam Masters" which eliminates the Single Match mode from the original game, focusing solely on the two-on-two Team Battle mode. The same character can now be chosen by more than one player and each wrestler now has two additional special moves: a dual side attack and a vacuum move. "Duo" is the only game in the series to retain the "Muscle Bomber" title for its international releases.
Although the players can choose and pick their team as they please, there are five "official" combinations that the game will recognize and give a name to. The official tag teams are as follows:
"Ring of Destruction".
Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II, released in Japan as Super Muscle Bomber: The International Blowout, is the proper sequel to "Slam Masters", now a CP System II game. Unlike the original, this game was never ported.
The game's format was changed to play more like a traditional one-on-one 2D fighting game with the action restricted to one plane (similar to "Street Fighter II"), albeit with an emphasis on grappling. Controls were upgraded to five buttons: two punch buttons, two kick buttons, and a grapple button. The objective of each match is to deplete the opponent's life bar in two out of three rounds. It is no longer possible for the player to pin their opponent to win a match, though all other wrestling-style moves have been retained.
All ten characters from the original "Slam Masters" returned, along with four new selectable characters:
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II" on their November 1, 1994 issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.
In other media.
In the "Street Fighter" animated series episode "New Kind of Evil", Mike Haggar appears in a fight against Blanka, and the human forms of the three guys who become monsters resemble that of Gunloc, The Great Oni, and Titanic Tim. It is also mentioned in the 1994 arcade game "Street Fighter: The Movie" that the "Blade" character is actually a deep cover agent named Gunloc in disguise as one of Bison's Shock Troops, and is shown to be Guile's brother (playing into the well-known rumor that the two are related). This is not canon for either game series, as the Japanese version of Slam Masters does not have him related to Guile in any way, shape, or form, and this connection made between the two is probably nothing more than a reference to a popular video game rumor.


MousePaint


Beyond the Ice Palace

Beyond the Ice Palace is a 1988 platform game published by Elite Systems for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum.
Gameplay.
The game is a 2D scrolling platformer. The player must complete his mission by fighting through three levels of monsters. There are some similarities to "Ghosts 'n Goblins", such as the ability to pick up different weapons. The player also has two Spirits of the Forest (circular faces) which may be summoned to attack enemies in difficult battles. More spirits may be collected along the way.
Plot.
A mystical land is caught up in a battle between good and evil, as dark spirits sent by an evil witch are destroying the forests. In desperation, the ancient and wise spirits of the woods shoot a sacred arrow into the air. Whoever finds it will be able to defeat the powers of darkness and destroy the witch.
Reception.
"Sinclair User" described "Beyond the Ice Palace" as "not a classic in any sense, but certainly good enough to occupy you until the NBT (Next Big Thing) comes along." According to "Your Sinclair", it was "all in all a rather super little game." "Crash" gave this "slick, playable and extremely compelling arcade adventure" a review score of 83%.
In a retrospective review of the Amstrad version for Retro Gamer, Gavin Eke noted the game's similarly to "Ghosts 'n Goblins". Eke was impressed by the "colourful & smooth" graphics and considered the game to be worth a look for fans of its inspiration. It was said to be a "flattering tribute". Gavin Miller reviewed the Atari ST release for the same publication. He said that although short, consisting of only 3 levels, it did offer a challenge. Miller concluded: "Overall a great little game with some good music. Would have liked a few more levels though."


Your 64

Your 64 was a British computer magazine aimed at users of the Commodore 64 and VIC-20 home computers, launched by Sportscene Specialist Press in 1984 as a sister title to "Your Spectrum". Initially a bi-monthly release it later changed to monthly. The content of issues were balanced between serious and leisure features. The title lasted 14 issues until it was incorporated into "Your Commodore".


PipeRench

The PipeRench Reconfigurable Computing Project is a project from the Carnegie Mellon University intended to improve reconfigurable computing systems. It aims to allow hardware virtualization through high-speed reconfiguration, in order to minimize resource constraints in FPGAs and similar systems.
The project has already succeeded in manufacturing a chip and testing it. PipeRench has been licensed by a start-up -- Rapport and is the basis of their Kilocore chip.


E2fsprogs

e2fsprogs (sometimes called the e2fs programs) is a set of utilities for maintaining the ext2, ext3 and ext4 file systems. Since those file systems are often the default for Linux distributions, it is commonly considered to be essential software.
List of utilities.
Included with e2fsprogs, ordered by ASCIIbetical order, are:
Many of these utilities are based on the codice_20 library.
Usage.
Despite what its name might suggest, e2fsprogs works not only with ext2, but also with ext3 and ext4. Although ext3's journaling capability can reduce the need to use codice_7, it is sometimes still necessary to help protect against kernel bugs or bad hardware.
With ext4 the e2fsck runtime should come down considerably, as can be seen from the graph.
As the userspace companion for the ext2, ext3, and ext4 drivers in the Linux kernel, the e2fsprogs are most commonly used with Linux. However, they have been ported to other systems, such as FreeBSD and Darwin.


Gradius II

Gradius II (also known as Vulcan Venture in arcades outside Japan) is a horizontally-scrolling shooter. Originally released for the arcades in Japan in 1988, it is the sequel to original "Gradius" and was succeeded by "Gradius III". Ports of "Gradius II" were released for the Family Computer (under the shortened title of "Gradius II"), PC-Engine Super CD-ROM², and the X68000 in Japan. The original arcade version is also included in the "Gradius Deluxe Pack" compilation for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn and in "Gradius Collection" for the PlayStation Portable.
Gameplay.
The player returns as the role of the pilot of the Vic Viper spaceship to battle the second onslaughts of the Bacterion Empire, under the new leadership of Gofer, the giant head. "Gradius II" has kept the gameplay from the original game, but infused it with enhancements brought from the spin-off, "Salamander" (Life Force). This is primarily evident in two of the weapons configurations that are selectable. Another first in the series was the inclusion of the "boss rush" (also known as "boss parade" or "boss alley"), a level designed entirely with only boss confrontations.
"Gradius II" retains the selection bar from "Gradius", but now the player can choose between four different weapon configurations and progressions. All schemes have speed-up and multiples (Options), but have differing 'Missile', 'Double' (laser), and 'Laser' weapons. The player can have at most four multiples. Additionally, there are also two types of shielding to choose from: shield and forcefield. The shield option adds more durability, but only for the front of the Vic Viper, while the forcefield adds protection for the entire spacecraft, albeit only against three hits. In the Famicom version, choosing another multiple after four will make the four multiples to move around the spacecraft for 16 seconds; force field is the only shielding available for protection of the entire spacecraft, withstanding five hits and it is included in four different weapon configurations and progressions; and 'Double' and 'Laser' have to be activated twice to achieve full performance.
The PC Engine version offers a different ending screen after completing the game, depending on difficulty select.
Release.
The game was first ported to the Family Computer in 1988 and was never released outside Japan. Presumably this was due to the fact that the Famicom version employed a custom memory mapper dubbed the VRC4, which enhanced some of the game's graphics and sounds, such as animation and voices, thus converting the game to a standard memory mapper (as Konami later did with "") would have been too time-consuming (since the original "Gradius" was not as popular overseas as it was in Japan).
A PC-Engine Super CD-ROM² port was later released only in Japan in 1992. The graphics remained nearly unaltered, the background music is mostly the arcade version's soundtrack in redbook audio format, and one additional stage was added that is similar to the temple stage in the NES version of "Life Force" and the first stage of "Gradius III".
"Gradius II" was later re-released in the Japanese exclusive "Gradius Deluxe Pack" for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Microsoft Windows in 1996, and for the first time a worldwide release on the "Gradius Collection" for the PlayStation Portable in 2006. , they're also was released for Mobile phones on 2004 and Windows Phone on 2010. No version of "Gradius II" saw a release in North America until its inclusion in the "Gradius Collection" in 2006. The Famicom and PC Engine ports were re-released for the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, the latter getting an international release.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Gradius II" on their May 1, 1988 issue as being the second most-successful table arcade unit of the year.
Review aggregator GameRankings scored "Gradius II" at 80%
"IGN" gave the Virtual Console release of the PC Engine version an 8 out of 10, praising the ability to choose which power-ups the player character has access to before entering a stage and the inclusion of useful cheat codes "to offset the otherwise potentially overwhelming difficulty".
"Nintendo Life" also gave the PC Engine version an 8 out of 10, praising the new additional features that is not present in arcade version like the animated intro sequence and new exclusive stage.


RPath

rPath, Inc. was a technology company based in Raleigh, North Carolina that developed technology to automate the process of constructing (or packaging), deploying and updating software. rPath modeled and managed components and dependencies under version control. It acted as a model-driven and version-controlled repository and software distribution hub.
In November, 2012, rPath was acquired by SAS Institute.
Shortly after this, rPath Linux was discontinued.
History.
rPath was founded in April 2005 and was originally known for packaging applications as virtual appliances for its independent software vendors (ISVs) and end-user customers. It was co-founded by Erik Troan, co-author of Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), a popular Linux package management system. Troan had left Red Hat in 2004 to found a company called Specifix. The first CEO was Bill Marshall.
Original investors were North Bridge Venture Partners and General Catalyst Partners, with $6.4 million in funding disclosed in September 2005.
A $9.1 million investment in February 2007 including new investor Wakefield Group was disclosed.
A $10 million investment was disclosed on June 24, 2008. A $7 million investment was disclosed in October, 2010.
The company headquarters were in Raleigh, North Carolina.
rPath was one of the first to market a software appliance. In 2009, rPath made a transition to selling to enterprise IT organizations.
IT automation was seen as the codification of runbooks by some, but rPath industrialized the operational aspects of the data center by modeling software configurations.
rPath provided a commercial version control platform for deployed software systems. rPath was not a source code management system. Rather, it was an operational management system that applies the principles and disciplines of source code control to the management of deployable software systems—specifically, system manifests, packages, binaries, policies and system configurations. Version control aids systems to be quickly reproduced, patched and updated, rollback-ed and reported on.
rPath provided a deeply modeled system inventory. This inventory granularly describes the desired state of every file, binary, application component, and software stack on every production system—with complete information about applied policies and dependencies—as version-controlled system manifests. These manifests are actionable models for managing the complete lifecycle of deployed systems, providing the basis for understanding change impact and controlling change. Also, rather than applying universal updates, patches and updates can be targeted to only the systems that require change.
rPath allows definition of systems as layered variants of common base platforms. For example, the standard corporate web server stack may start with a standard build of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), but add a specific custom version of the Apache HTTP Server and remove all availability of FTP. With this feature,
rPath enabled IT groups to define and automatically enforce build-time policies that govern how systems are constructed.
When rPath imports new or existing software artifacts into system version control, it automatically analyzes each software artifact to discover its entire software supply chain, including operating system (OS) components, middleware and libraries. This information enables build-time system construction and validation and reduces the number of maintenance failures and outages that result from missing dependencies and conflicting components. "Ovum considers the automated dependency-checking capability to be an extremely useful and often overlooked feature that all such tools should employ."
rPath ensured a consistent system definition, eliminating the risk of system "drift" between lifecycle stages and enabling a clean software build environment.
rPath developed Conary, an open source software package management and configuration software that formed the core of rBuilder. It allows rollbacks, incremental ("changeset") updates, and distributed downloading which removes the need for programs such as apt or yum.
rPath supported Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2003 as well as Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, and CentOS. It was also marketed as software as a service.
The NRE Alliance was a coalition of newScale, rPath and Eucalyptus Systems to promote private and hybrid cloud computing. The coalition was announced on August 24, 2010. It had a web site through August 2012.
On November 30, 2012 the business analytics company SAS Institute announced that it acquired key rPath assets, including technology and staff.


Secure Operations Language

The Secure Operations Language (SOL) was developed jointly by the United States Naval Research Laboratory and Utah State University in the United States. SOL is a domain-specific synchronous programming language for developing distributed applications and is based on software engineering principles developed in the Software Cost Reduction project at the Naval Research Laboratory in the late 1970s and early 1980s. SOL is intended to be a domain-specific language for developing service-based systems. Concurrently, a domain-specific extension of Java (SOLj) is being developed (FTDCS 2007)
Application domains include sensor networks, defense and space systems, healthcare delivery, power control, etc.
The investigators of the project are Dr. Ramesh Bharadwaj from the Naval Research Laboratory and Dr. Supratik Mukhopadhyay from Utah State University.


The Earth Fighter Rayieza

 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Enix. It was originally published in 1985 for the PC-8801, FM-7, X1, and MSX personal computer systems. The game was ported to the Famicom on December 15, 1987 by Nintendo under the title . The programming was done by Pax Softnica.
The game takes place in a sci-fi setting instead of a fantasy world. The characters from "Ginga no Sannin" were designed by Go Nagai, who also drew the illustrations for the game's package. The background music from "Ginga no Sannin" was composed by Yukihiro Takahashi. Takahashi included an arranged version of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Rydeen" as the battle theme.
Plot.
In the year 2300, the human race created an Earth federation government and spread out into space to begin colonizing the surrounding planets. However, an alien species from the far reaches of outer space began attacking the human forces, putting the very survival of the human race at stake. Though it was only a matter of time before Earth fell to the enormous power of the enemy forces, the Earth's army commander issued an order calling all of the units dispersed around the colonized planets to return to Earth. The player takes the role of a young soldier who was stationed with the Rayieza unit on the planet Mars. The journey begins as he makes his way back to Earth along with the other members of his unit.
Ginga no Sannin (Family Computer version).
The Family Computer port of the game was released on December 15, 1987. Though the game is largely a faithful port of the PC version, some arrangements were made, such as the addition of a side-scrolling screen when the player lands on a planet's surface, or Rimi being able to use psychic powers. During the later parts of the game, enemies begin to appear very frequently, and new enemy special attacks were added which can lower the maximum hit-points of allied characters (lowered points return the next time the character's level increases).
Game designer Makoto Kuba stated in an interview that the name was changed due to trademark issues. He also stated that Nintendo may have published the game so that Enix would not have to be associated with a "low-quality" game.
Soundtrack.
The theme song for "The Earth Fighter Rayieza" was included in an album titled "Enix Game Music". It was released by GMO Records on October 25, 1987.


VIA APC

The VIA APC is a low-cost ($49) single-board computer from VIA Technologies designed to run the Android operating system. It has been available for purchase since July 2012. Since January 2013 enhanced versions are available for purchase at a higher price.
The APC Paper version, housed in a recycled cardboard case resembling a book, won a Design and Innovation Award at Computex 2013.


VTech CreatiVision

The Video Technology CreatiVision is a hybrid computer and home video game console introduced by VTech in 1981 and released in 1982. The hybrid unit was similar in concept to computers such as the APF Imagination Machine, the older VideoBrain Family Computer, and to a lesser extent the Intellivision game console and Coleco Adam computer, all of which anticipated the trend of video game consoles becoming more like low-end computers.
History.
The CreatiVision was distributed in many European countries, including most German-speaking countries like West Germany, Austria and Switzerland and also Italy, South Africa, in Israel under the Educat 2002 name, as well as in Australia and New Zealand under the Dick Smith Wizzard name. Other names for the system (all officially produced by VTech themselves) include the FunVision Computer Video Games System, Hanimex Rameses (both released in Australia and New Zealand) and VZ 2000 (planned for release in France, likely unreleased). All CreatiVision and similar clones were designed for use with PAL standard television sets, except the Japanese CreatiVision (distributed by Cheryco) which was NTSC and is nowadays much sought after by collectors. However, the US release was planned but never sold efficiently.
The CreatiVision console sported an 8-bit Rockwell 6502 CPU at a speed of 2 MHz, 1KB of RAM and 16KB of Video RAM, and had a graphics resolution of 256 × 192 with 16 colors and 32 sprites. The console had two integrated joystick/membrane keypad controllers (much like the ColecoVision and Atari 5200) which, when set in a special compartment on top of the console, could be used as a computer keyboard. The CreatiVision had interfaces for a cassette player, an extra rubber keyboard, parallel I/O interface, floppy disk drive and modem (likely unreleased) and one memory expansion module for use with the Basic language cartridge. Any Centronics-compatible printer could be connected to the I/O module if present.
The CreatiVision was discontinued in late 1985/early 1986.
A computer was produced by VTech in 1984-1986, based on CreatiVision hardware and was compatible with most of its games: Laser 2001, which is also sold in West Germany and was brought to France.
It was also available in Finland through Salora, with the name of Manager. The Manager had a Finnish keyboard layout and character set.
A module allowing to play ColecoVision games were designed for use with the CreatiVision Mark-2 model (a later revision of the 1st model, incorporating hardware changes specifically designed to make the Coleco-module work). Before being produced, the module was modified internally and released for use on the Laser 2001 and Salora computers only. A special adaptor (homebrew) would be needed to make the Coleco-module work on the CreatiVision Mark-2.
List of games.
In some regions, the console and its games were distributed by different companies, such as Cheryco in Japan, and Hanimex in Australia. VTech reissued several previous existing games in 1985.
There were titles known to have been released.


Miner 2049er

Miner 2049er is a platform video game created by Bill Hogue that was released in 1982 by Big Five Software. It was developed for the Atari 8-bit family and widely ported to other systems. The title "Miner 2049er" evokes a 21st-century take on the California Gold Rush of around 1849, in which the gold miners and prospectors were nicknamed "49ers".
At the time of its release, a key selling point of the game was having ten different screens, which was a large number for a platform game. For comparison, the "Donkey Kong" arcade game had four screens (and its console versions only two or three), which was more typical of the time.
Unlike most of the home computer versions, "Miner 2049er" for the Atari 8-bit family was released on 16K ROM cartridge with the high price of .
Plot.
Bounty Bob is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on a mission to search through all of Nuclear Ned's abandoned uranium mines for the treacherous Yukon Yohan. Bob must claim each section of each mine by running over it. There are a wide variety of futuristic obstacles that he must deal with such as matter transporters, hydraulic scaffolds, and jet-speed floaters; plus, he must also avoid radioactive creatures that have been left behind in the mines.
Gameplay.
As Bounty Bob, the player's goal is to inspect every section of each mine in search of the evil Yukon Yohan while avoiding the radioactive creatures that inhabit the mine. As Bounty Bob walks over a section of flooring, it fills with color. To complete the level, every section of flooring must be colored. There are ten mines in total (eleven in the ColecoVision port). Each level is timed and must be completed before the player runs out of oxygen.
Along the way, Bob encounters many objects left behind by past miners. By collecting these, bonus points are achieved and the radioactive creatures smile and change color. While in this state, Bob can collect them and earn extra points.
Obstacles in each mine aid and hinder Bob's progress. Ladders allow him to climb up or down to the next platform; matter transporters teleport him to other transporters in that mine, chutes slide Bob off a platform (often against his will), and pulverizers crush Bob if he gets in their way. Most levels are defined by a unique element or obstacle.
Development.
Big Five Software co-founders Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu programmed computer games from 1980-82 for Radio Shack's TRS-80 Model I home computer. They created games patterned after arcade games, such as "Super Nova" ("Asteroids"), "Attack Force" ("Targ"), "Cosmic Fighter" ("Astro Fighter"), "Galaxy Invasion" ("Galaxian"), "Meteor Mission II" ("Lunar Rescue"), "Robot Attack" ("Berzerk"), and "Defense Command" ("Missile Command").
Hogue was originally going to write Miner 2049er for the TRS-80 Model I, but Radio Shack discontinued it in mid-1982, so he instead developed the game on the Atari 800. The game required 16k at a time when cartridges were normally 8k, so the company had to produce their own circuit boards holding two EPROMs. Early versions of the cartridges had a bug in the elevator code. Due to a production delay, it was first released on the Apple II.
Ports.
"Miner 2049er" was ported to the Apple II, IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), Commodore 64, VIC-20, Atari 5200, Atari 2600, TI-99/4A, and ColecoVision. For the Atari 2600, two separate cartridges were published by Tigervision, each containing three selected levels: "Miner 2049er" and "Miner 2049er Volume II".
Reception.
"ANALOG Computing" in 1982 called "Miner 2049er" "one of those rare games which looks as if it were designed, not just thrown together", praising its animation and large number of levels, and concluded that it "is a must-play game for the Atari". "Softline" in 1983 stated that the Apple version was a good port of the Atari version, which "You already knew ... was a great game".
The game reached #1 on the Softsel Hot List in 1983. The same year, "Softline" readers named the game the fourth most-popular Apple and sixth most-popular Atari program of 1983. "Miner 2049er" was awarded "1984 Electronic Game of the Year" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards, where the judges noted that the game was available on so many platform that it had become "the most widely played home electronic game of all time", and that "no home-arcade title has had the impact" that the game had. It also won an Outstanding Software Award from "Creative Computing" that year.
Legacy.
"Miner 2049er" has been cited as the inspiration behind the "Miner Willy" and "Crystal Caves" series of games produced by Software Projects and Apogee Software respectively.
Sequels.
Development of two games followed that featured Bounty Bob. The first, named "Scraper Caper", had Bob acting as a fireman in a side-scrolling building, but that version was scrapped and they started over with an unnamed new game where Bob was chased by fireballs in 3D. Neither was considered appealing enough to release, and in 1985 an official sequel was released, "Bounty Bob Strikes Back!". However, it never achieved the same level of success as its predecessor, and it was Hogue's last game.
Re-releases.
A Game Boy version of the game with different graphics and levels was released by Mindscape in 1991.
"Miner 2049er" was re-released in 2007 by Magmic for the mobile market. This version contains both a recreation of Hogue's original and the second a modernized version. The remake received an IGN Editor's Choice Award and won the Best Revival category in the Best of 2007 IGN awards. In 2011, Magmic added support for iOS devices.
Also in 2007 Hogue released an emulator coded in C++ with both Bounty Bob games in one package for Windows. The emulator was made available free of charge on the Big Five website. Hogue states that as neither game used any Atari ROM routines they are not necessary for the emulator to run.
An updated version of the game was announced in 2018 for the Intellivision Amico.


Macintosh Plus

The Macintosh Plus computer is the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2599. As an evolutionary improvement over the 512K, it shipped with 1 MB of RAM standard, expandable to 4 MB, and an external SCSI peripheral bus, among smaller improvements. Originally, the computer's case was the same beige color as the original Macintosh, Pantone 453, however in 1987, the case color was changed to the long-lived, warm gray "Platinum" color. It is the earliest Macintosh model able to run System 7.
Overview.
Bruce Webster of "BYTE" reported a rumor in December 1985: "Supposedly, Apple will be releasing a Big Mac by the time this column sees print: said Mac will reportedly come with 1 megabyte of RAM ... the new 128K-byte ROM ... and a double-sided (800K bytes) disk drive, all in the standard Mac box". Introduced as the Macintosh Plus, it was the first Macintosh model to include a SCSI port, which launched the popularity of external SCSI devices for Macs, including hard disks, tape drives, CD-ROM drives, printers, Zip Drives, and even monitors. The SCSI implementation of the Plus was engineered shortly before the initial SCSI spec was finalized and, as such, is not 100% SCSI-compliant. SCSI ports remained standard equipment for all Macs until the introduction of the iMac in 1998.
The Macintosh Plus was the last classic Mac to have a phone cord-like port on the front of the unit for the keyboard, as well as the DE-9 connector for the mouse; models released after the Macintosh Plus would use ADB ports.
The Mac Plus was the first Apple computer to utilize user-upgradable SIMM memory modules instead of single DIP DRAM chips. Four SIMM slots were provided and the computer shipped with four 256K SIMMs, for 1MB total RAM. By replacing them with 1MB SIMMs, it was possible to have 4MB of RAM. (Although 30-pin SIMMs could support up to 16MB total RAM, the Mac Plus motherboard had only 22 address lines connected, for a 4MB maximum.)
It has what was then a new -inch double-sided 800 KB floppy drive, offering double the capacity of floppy disks from previous Macs, along with backward compatibility. The then-new drive is controlled by the same IWM chip as in previous models, implementing variable speed GCR. The drive was still completely incompatible with PC drives. The 800 KB drive has two read/write heads, enabling it to simultaneously use both sides of the floppy disk and thereby double storage capacity. Like the 400 KB drive before it, a companion Macintosh 800K External Drive was an available option. However, with the increased disk storage capacity combined with 2-4x the available RAM, the external drive was less of a necessity than it had been with the 128K and 512K.
The Mac Plus has 128 KB of ROM on the motherboard, which is double the amount of ROM in previous Macs; the ROMs included software to support SCSI, the then-new 800 KB floppy drive, and the Hierarchical File System (HFS), which uses a true directory structure on disks (as opposed to the earlier MFS, Macintosh File System in which all files were stored in a single directory, with one level of pseudo-folders overlaid on them). For programmers, the fourth "Inside Macintosh" volume details how to use HFS and the rest of the Mac Plus's new system software. The Plus still did not include provision for an internal hard drive and it would be over nine months before Apple would offer a SCSI drive replacement for the slow Hard Disk 20. It would be well over a year before Apple would offer the first internal hard disk drive in any Macintosh.
A compact Mac, the Plus has a 512 × 342 pixel monochrome display with a resolution of 72 PPI, identical to that of previous Macintosh models. Unlike earlier Macs, the Mac Plus's keyboard includes a numeric keypad and directional arrow keys and, as with previous Macs, it has a one-button mouse and no fan, making it extremely quiet in operation. The lack of a cooling fan in the Mac Plus led to frequent problems with overheating and hardware malfunctions.
The applications MacPaint and MacWrite were bundled with the Mac Plus. After August 1987, HyperCard and MultiFinder were also bundled. Third-party software applications available included MacDraw, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Aldus PageMaker. Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint (originally by Forethought) were actually developed and released first for the Macintosh, and similarly Microsoft Word 1 for Macintosh was the first time a GUI version of that software was introduced on any personal computer platform. For a time, the exclusive availability of Excel and PageMaker on the Macintosh were noticeable drivers of sales for the platform.
The case design is essentially identical to the original Macintosh. It debuted in beige and was labeled "Macintosh Plus" on the front, but "Macintosh Plus 1 MB" on the back, to denote the 1 MB RAM configuration with which it shipped. In January 1987 it transitioned to Apple's long-lived platinum-gray color with the rest of the Apple product line, and the keyboard's keycaps changed from brown to gray. In January 1988, with reduced RAM prices, Apple began shipping 2- and 4- MB configurations and rebranded it simply as ""Macintosh Plus"." Among other design changes, it included the same trademarked inlaid Apple logo and recessed port icons as the Apple IIc and IIGS before it, but it essentially retained the original design.
An upgrade kit was offered for the earlier Macintosh 128K and Macintosh 512K/"enhanced", which includes a new motherboard, floppy disk drive and rear case. The owner retained the front case, monitor and analog board. Because of this, there is no "Macintosh Plus" on the front of upgraded units, and the Apple logo is recessed and in the bottom left hand corner of the front case. However, the label on the back of the case reads "Macintosh Plus 1MB". The new extended Plus keyboard could also be purchased. Unfortunately, this upgrade cost almost as much as a new machine.
The Mac Plus itself can be upgraded further with the use of third-party accelerators. When these are clipped or soldered onto the 68000 processor, a 32 MHz 68030 processor can be used, and up to 16 MB RAM. This allows it to run Mac OS 7.6.1.
There is a program available called Mini vMac that can emulate a Mac Plus on a variety of platforms, including Unix, Windows, DOS, classic Mac OS, macOS, Pocket PC, iOS and even Nintendo DS.
Long production life.
Although the Macintosh Plus would become overshadowed by two new Macintoshes, the Macintosh SE and the Macintosh II in March 1987, it remained in production as a cheaper alternative until the introduction of the Macintosh Classic on October 15, 1990. This made the Macintosh Plus the longest-produced Macintosh ever, having been on sale unchanged for 1,734 days, until the 2nd generation Mac Pro, introduced on December 19, 2013, surpassed the record on September 18, 2018. (it would ultimately last for 2,182 days before being discontinued on December 10, 2019) (Second to the Mid 2012 13 inch (unibody) Macbook Pro that has been on sale from June,11,2012 to October,27,2016 spanning 4 years, 4 months, and 16 days this macbooks holds the title of the longest-produced MacBook Pro ever) It continued to be supported by versions of the classic Mac OS up to version 7.5.5, released in 1996. Additionally, during its period of general market relevance, it was heavily discounted like the 512K/512K"e" before it and offered to the educational market badged as the "Macintosh Plus ED". Due to its popularity, long life and its introduction of many features that would become mainstays of the Macintosh platform for years, the Plus was a common "base model" for many software and hardware products.
Problems.
The lack of fan could cause the life of a Macintosh Plus to end early for some users. As the power supply would heat up, solder joints inside it would fracture causing many problems, such as loss of deflection in the monitor or a complete loss of power. As in most early compact Macs, the problem was common in the yoke connector, flyback transformer, and horizontal drive coupling capacitor. A fan was also often added to reduce heat when the machine was upgraded to its full RAM capacity of 4 MB.
From the debut of the Macintosh 128K through the Macintosh Plus, various third-party cooling add-ons were available to help increase airflow through the unit. Apple reorganized the compact Macintosh case to accommodate a fan with the release of the Macintosh SE, which optionally included a heat-generating internal hard disk.
ROM revisions.
The Plus went through two ROM revisions during its general market relevance. The initial ROM was replaced after the first two months as it had a serious bug which prevented the Mac from booting if an external SCSI device was powered off. The second revision fixed a problem with some SCSI devices that could send the Mac into an endless reset at POST.


Zenith Minisport

The Zenith Minisport (styled as minisPORT) is a subnotebook based on an 80C88 CMOS CPU running at two software selectable speeds: 4.77 MHz or 8 MHz. It was released in 1989 by Zenith Data Systems (ZDS).
It had 1 (model ZL-1) or 2 MB (model ZL-2) of RAM, ran MS-DOS 3.3 Plus from ROM, had a 640×200 LCD display and CGA and composite monochrome outputs. The Minisport was one of the first actual subnotebooks, apart from a contemporary NEC model.
Dimensions.
The Minisport is 12.5-inch wide × 9.8-inch deep × 1.29-inch tall (318 mm × 249 mm × 33 mm), (lid closed), 7.75-inch (197 mm) tall (lid open). It weighs 5.9 lb (2.7 kg) with the battery.


Motorola Devour

The Motorola Devour is an Internet and multimedia enabled smartphone designed by Motorola, which runs Google's Android operating system. In the United States, the handset is distributed exclusively by Verizon Wireless. The Devour has a Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) rating of M4/T4. Although it runs Android, the Devour was not branded or marketed as part of Verizon's "DROID" series of Android smartphones.
MOTOBLUR.
The Devour marks the second smartphone from Motorola to feature MOTOBLUR. MOTOBLUR provides contact sync from email services like gmail and social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook etc. MOTOBLUR is a re-branded interface developed by Motorola for the Android OS. It replaces both the Google Experience skin and application stack.
MOTOBLUR's primary function is to enable the user to receive various updates from a variety of sources such as Twitter, Facebook, and Email clients directly on their phone's main screen.


Computer Shopper (US magazine)

Computer Shopper was a monthly consumer computer magazine published by SX2 Media Labs. The magazine ceased print publication in April 2009.
History.
"Computer Shopper" magazine was established in 1979 in Titusville, Florida. It began as a tabloid-size publication on yellow newsprint that primarily contained classified advertising and ads for kit computers, parts, and software. The magazine was created by Glenn Patch, publisher of the photo-equipment magazine "Shutterbug Ads", in the hopes of applying its formula to a PC-technology magazine. The magazine expanded into prebuilt home computers and white box IBM PC compatibles through the 1980s.
The magazine grew to several hundred pages, mostly of advertisements. It was during this time that the magazine was sold to Ziff Davis Publishing, first as a limited partnership, then solely owned. It was later sold, in 2000, along with Ziff-Davis' ZDNet Web site, to CNET. CNET sold "Computer Shopper" to new owners, SX2 Media Labs, in 2006. In April 2009, SX2 Media Labs discontinued the print version of the magazine. The business continued on as a Web entity, "ComputerShopper.com", which was reacquired by Ziff-Davis in 2012.
Magazine.
"Computer Shopper", the print magazine, comprised the following sections at the end of its publication:


Wing Commander (video game)

Wing Commander is the first game in Chris Roberts' space flight simulation "Wing Commander" franchise" by Origin Systems. The game was first released for MS-DOS on September 26, 1990 and was later ported to the Amiga, CD32 (256-color), Sega CD and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and re-released for the PC as Wing Commander I in 1994. An enhanced remake Super Wing Commander was made for the 3DO in 1994, and later ported to the Macintosh.
The game was considered a major step forward for space dogfight games, featuring graphics, audio, and a story campaign that invited comparison to the "Star Wars" films. Set in the year 2654 and characterized by Chris Roberts as "World War II in space", it features a multinational cast of pilots from the "Terran Confederation" flying missions against the predatory, aggressive Kilrathi, a feline warrior race (heavily inspired by the Kzinti of Larry Niven's "Known Space" universe).
Gameplay.
"Wing Commander" is a space flight simulation game. The player pilots a ship which engages enemy ships of various capabilities. As the title suggests, there will generally be an AI-controlled wingman which the player can give orders to. Similar to "Star Wars" and other soft science fiction series, the combat draws some inspiration from real life dogfighting, wherein ships engage in short-range combat and maneuver to get around behind each other while dodging fire and the occasional missile. Missions will generally include multiple objectives, but the game can proceed even if objectives are failed as long as the protagonist survives. Overall performance affects the campaign: succeeding at objectives results in medals, promotions in rank, and access to better ships. The player's overall performance also affects the plot's progress.
Plot.
"Wing Commander".
The player takes the role of a nameless pilot (later referred to as Christopher Blair in sequels) aboard the TCS "Tiger's Claw", a "Bengal"-class Strike Carrier. The player names the pilot and choose his call sign. The pilot, known in-production to Origin personnel as "Bluehair" after his most notable feature, quickly rises through the ranks of the flight wing. The campaign will split to various different planets and scenarios depending on the player's performance. If the player performs overall well, they eventually lead a strike on the Kilrathi High Command starbase in the Venice system and force the Kilrathi to retreat. If the player fails too many objectives, missions become increasingly defensive in nature. Human refugees abandon the sector, and eventually the "Claw" is forced to retreat as well. Of the two endings, the "winning" path is considered canon by the game's two expansion packs as well as the sequel "".
"Wing Commander: The Secret Missions".
In the add-on's plot, the "Tiger's Claw", on maneuvers in the Goddard System, receives an abortive distress call from Goddard colony. When the "Claw" arrives, though, nothing is left but wreckage and corpses; a quarter of a million colonists have been killed. Confed realizes that this is the work of a new Kilrathi weapon, the "Graviton weapon", which is able to increase the power of gravity by over a hundred times. Clever work by the "Claw"'s crew and pilots allows them to capture a Kilrathi courier ship, which reveals that this weapon is mounted on an entirely new class of ship; CNC codenames it the "Sivar"-class dreadnought, after the Kilrathi god of war. Bluehair leads the strike against the "Sivar" and destroys it in the Vigrid system; for unexplained reasons, ships of that class and armament are never seen again.
"Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 2: Crusade".
In the add-on's plot, the "Tiger's Claw" is in the Firekka System, whose native intelligent lifeforms — the bird-like Firekkans — are negotiating to join the Terran Confederation. Tensions are high, and will only get higher. There is an unusual Kilrathi presence in the area, including their upgraded "Dralthi II" and ships that have "never" been seen before: the "Hhriss"-class heavy fighter and the "Snakeir"-class heavy carrier. This presence develops into a massive battle group, and though the Firekkans sign the Articles of the Confederation, the outnumbered Terrans have no choice but to retreat. Adding to the mess, a Kilrathi lord, Ralgha "nar" Hhallas, defects, bringing his "Fralthi"-class cruiser, the "Ras Nik'hra", and word of a rebellion against the Empire on the Kilrathi colony of Ghorah Khar.
Finally, almost overlooked in all the chaos, Major Kien "Bossman" Chen is lost while flying on Jeannette Devereaux's wing; the nearby TCS "Austin" transfers over two pilots, Lieutenants Zachary "Jazz" Colson and Etienne "Doomsday" Montclair. All this happens in the first six missions of the game. The Kilrathi presence in the Firekka sector is eventually explained by an all-channels transmission from the Crown Prince of the Kilrathi Empire, Thrakhath "nar" Kiranka: Firekka has been chosen as the site of this year's Rite of Sivar, a religious festival that involves live sacrifices. Seeing the chance to strike a heady blow to Kilrathi morale, the Confederation assigns its Firekka-sector resources the task of disrupting the ceremony.
The "Dralthi" medium fighters from the "Ras Nik'hra" are put to work on reconnaissance missions (conveniently, the Confederation "Scimitar" medium fighter is retired at the beginning of the expansion pack, opening a space in the database of Confederation fighters for the "Dralthi"), and Terran troops begin landing in secret. Between these, the Firekkans' warrior spirit and some of the Confederation's best pilots and tacticians, the Sivar ceremony is utterly wrecked and the Kilrathi forced to retreat, though they take a number of important Firekkans with them as hostages. Ralgha and the rebellion at Ghorah Khar, though promising, are taken over by Confed Intelligence and do not see mention until the first expansion pack for "Wing Commander II." At the end of "Crusade", Jeannette Devereaux is detailed off to the TCS "Austin", where she will serve as Wing Commander.
Interested in the other half of the crusade, Mercedes Lackey and Ellen Guon penned the first "Wing Commander" novel, "". It tells the Firekkan side of the story, from several points of view: Ralgha "nar" Hhallas, Ian "Hunter" St. John, James "Paladin" Taggart, and K'kai, a Firekkan flock leader.
"Super Wing Commander".
"Super Wing Commander" was a drastic new look at the events of the original "Wing Commander". That mission led the Tiger's Claw to track down and destroy the shipyards responsible for creating the Sivar Dreadnought. Additional background elements about stealth fighters and Admiral Tolwyn were added to improve the continuity with "Wing Commander II".
"Next Generation" reviewed the 3DO version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that ""Super Wing Commander" succeeds at being what it was intended to be - a straightforward space simulator with an arcade spin".
History.
Development.
"Wing Commander" was originally titled "Squadron" and later renamed "Wingleader". As development for "Wing Commander" came to a close, the EMM386 memory manager the game used would give an exception when the user exited the game. It would print out a message similar to codice_1 with additional information. The team could not isolate and fix the error and they needed to ship it as soon as possible. As a work-around, one of the game's programmers, Ken Demarest, hex-edited the memory manager so it displayed a different message. Instead of the error message, it printed codice_2 However, due to a different bug the game went through another revision and the bug was fixed, meaning this hack did not ship with the final release.
Release.
"Wing Commander" shipped in 1990 for PC/DOS as the initial platform and came with an instruction booklet styled as a shipboard magazine, "Claw Marks". It provided tactical suggestions, statistics on fighters and weapons both Kilrathi and Terran, capsule biographies of notable pilots on both sides of the line, and general shipboard news (such as the discontinuation of the popular comic strip "Hornet's Nest", due to the recent death of its artist, Lt. Larry "Tooner" Dibbles). Notable contributors to the "Claw Marks" magazine include Captain Aaron Allston, Major Warren Spector, and Col. Chris Roberts. The game also shipped with a set of blueprints for the game's four playable fighters, the Hornet, Scimitar, Rapier, and Raptor.
Mission packs.
In November 1990, an add-on campaign, named "Wing Commander: The Secret Missions", was released, adding new missions, new ships, a new storyline, and an increase in difficulty. Unlike the original game, "The Secret Missions" does not feature a branching mission tree; every player plays the same missions in the same order. However, if the player does not fulfill the mission requirements at any system, he immediately plays the two losing "retreat" missions that are not on the winning path. "The Secret Missions" was also released for the Super NES as a stand-alone cartridge.
The second expansion pack for "Wing Commander", "Wing Commander: The Secret Missions 2: Crusade" adds a new narrative, new ships, more difficult missions, and two new wingmen. It was released in March 1991.
Ports and re-release.
"Wing Commander" was ported to the Super NES. and Amiga in 1992, to the Amiga CD32 in 1993, and to the Sega CD system in 1994. A Sega Mega Drive version intended to use a custom ASIC graphics chip on the cartridge was planned but never released.
In 1994, "Wing Commander" was retroactively renamed "Wing Commander I" in a bundled re-release together with "Wing Commander II", in preparation for the release of "". The rebundled remakes do not contain and do not support the "Secret Missions" addons.
In 1996 "Wing Commander" was ported to Windows 95 in a bundled re-release together with "Wing Commander II", and "" known as "Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga". All three games were ported to Windows 95 and the "Secret Missions" Addons whilst not shipped on the CDs could be downloaded from Origin's website.
"Super Wing Commander".
"Super Wing Commander"; released on March 23, 1994, for 3DO and Macintosh; was a drastic new look at the events of the original "Wing Commander" game with enhanced graphics and full speech. The game also contained both Secret Missions and a special third campaign was also created between them (called "Secret Mission 1.5" by fans).
Legacy.
Chris Crawford said of "Wing Commander" that it "raised the bar for the whole industry", as the game was five times more expensive to create than most of its contemporaries. Because the game was highly successful, other publishers had to match its production value in order to compete. This forced a large portion of the video game industry to become more conservative, as larger budgets required greater sales to be profitable and the possibility of large losses dictated a decrease in the chance of that outcome, an aspect of classic risk-and-return dynamics. Crawford opined that "Wing Commander" in particular affected the marketing and economics of computer games and reestablished the "action game" as the most lucrative type of computer game.
In 2006 Electronic Arts ported the Super NES version of "Wing Commander" to the PlayStation Portable as part of "EA Replay", released in the United States on November 14. In August 2011, after many years of unavailability, the "Wing Commander" PC version was re-released into the digital distribution on gog.com. The long lost source code of "Wing Commander" was given to the fan-community in that year in August by a former developer for the purpose of long-time preservation.
IN 2021 modders began reworking Wing Commander 4 with upscaled assets from the original FMV files. It is tentatively called Wing Commander IV: Remastered.
In 2014, hundreds of fans of the game series crowdfunded a studio recording of the music George Oldziey had composed for the game twenty years earlier, with a real 95-person orchestra and chorus (something that had not been possible during the original game development). Some of the professional musicians performing happened to be fans of the game themselves.
Reception.
"Wing Commander" became a best seller and caused the development of competing space combat games, such as LucasArts' "X-Wing". It was very well received by critics. "Dragon" gave "Wing Commander" six stars, out of a five-star system, the "Secret Missions Expansion Disk" receiving five stars. "Computer Gaming World" in 1990 described the game as a ""stellar" warfare adventure in every sense of the word", praising its graphics, story, and music. The magazine described the first expansion as "more of the same", albeit more difficult, but the second as improving computer pilots' intelligence. In a 1992 survey of science fiction games, the magazine gave the title five of five stars, stating that "the richness of the entire package makes this a 'must-have'". A 1994 survey of strategic space games set in the year 2000 and later gave the game four-plus stars out of five. Its readers gave "Wing Commander" a score of 10.91, the highest rating in the history of the magazine until 1992, when it was superseded by the sequel "Wing Commander II"; that year the magazine added "Wing Commander" to its Hall of Fame for games that readers highly rated over time.
"GamePro" gave the Sega CD version a positive review, commenting that "a great story line with cinematic animation and digitized speech gives this game the feel of a big screen space opera". They regarded the "Super Wing Commander" remake for the 3DO to be "a tedious disappointment", citing missions that are "either too short or too repetitive", dramatic slowdown which interferes with the gameplay, poorly animated character faces, and low quality voice tracks.
In 1991, "Wing Commander" won "Computer Gaming World"s Overall Game of the Year award. In 1996 the magazine ranked it as the seventh best PC video game of all time, also listing the game's Game Over funeral cutscene among the 15 best ways to die in computer gaming. In 2011, "Maximum PC" included it on the list 16 classic games that need to be remade today, stating: "Chris Roberts and Origin really nailed the space opera with this series, which blended fast action and a fairly engaging (if hokey) story. Way ahead of its time". In 2012, "Time" named "Wing Commander" one of the 100 greatest video games of all time, remembering its "unprecedented detail" of graphics and calling it "a revelation in 1990 for PC space-sim buffs looking for a little less "Star Trek" and a little more "Star Wars" from the genre".
In 1991, "PC Format" placed "Wing Commander" on its list of the 50 best computer games of all time. The editors praised its "superb graphics, atmospheric storyline and [the] sheer hectic pace of the dogfighting". In 1994, "PC Gamer US" named the game's CD-ROM release the 23rd best computer game ever. The editors wrote: "If "Wing Commander" were just a dog-fighting arcade game, it would still be great. But it's a lot more than that, as it combines animated sequences, voice acting, and a great story to create the first example of that now-overused phrase, 'Interactive Cinema'".
In 1991 it won the Origins Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1990".
By February 1995, "Wing Commander" had sold 290,000 copies.


Infidel (video game)

Infidel is an interactive fiction video game published by Infocom in 1983. It was written by Patricia Fogleman and Michael Berlyn and was the first in the "Tales of Adventure" line. It was released for the Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), TRS-80, and TI-99/4A. Ports were later published Macintosh, Atari ST, and Amiga. "Infidel" is Infocom's tenth game.
Plot.
Infocom intended "Infidel" to be the first of a "Tales of Adventure" series.
The player's character is a self-styled adventurer and fortune hunter. He is bitter because he thinks his boss, Craige, should treat him as a partner instead of an assistant. A call comes in while Craige is out checking equipment: a woman, Rose Ellington, wants to sponsor an expedition to discover the pyramid that her archeologist father never found. Egotistical and greedy for fame, the assistant tells Rose that he is capable of taking the job and decides to cut out Craige altogether.
In 1916, Dr. Ellington came into possession of a 5000-year-old fragment of pottery covered with hieroglyphics. After years of painstaking research, Ellington managed to decipher a portion of the text, which indicated the general location of a pyramid that no one had heard of before. He managed to organize a modest expedition to the area in 1920, but found nothing before he died except a small block of limestone bearing the same style of hieroglyphics. According to the partial translation he made, the new fragment spoke of a queen and great riches. When Howard Carter discovered King Tut's tomb a few years later, Dr. Ellington's widow figured that someone had found the pyramid her husband had been looking for. She stowed the papers and artifacts away and forgot all about them. Rose found them in the early 1980s after her mother's death and did some preliminary fact-checking. The pyramid indicated by her father's papers is nowhere near Tut's. In fact, no pyramids have ever been discovered in the area Dr. Ellington was investigating. Rose is by no means a rich woman—she only wants someone to give her father the recognition he deserves—so the expedition will be modest. But it sure sounds like the perfect chance for an opportunistic soldier-of-fortune to make a name for himself.
It soon becomes apparent that this adventuring stuff is harder than it looks. The "navigation box", a gadget that seems to be a crude forerunner of a Global Positioning System unit, is irreparably damaged. A new one is ordered, since locating the pyramid is impossible without it, but weeks slip by waiting for the delivery. The food supplies spoil. The locals recruited to dig are becoming increasingly discontent and demand more money. Terrified of losing control, the would-be adventurer commands the men to continue digging aimlessly, even trying to browbeat them into laboring on a holy day.
As the game begins, the player awakens to realize that he has been drugged by his men, who have stolen most of the equipment and abandoned the camp. All the food and water are gone, and the player has no idea how to get back to civilization. He may very well have been left to die in the barren desert. But the navigation box finally arrives, convincing him that everything will work out as long as he can find the pyramid. Once he does, of course, there is the small matter of the traps the Egyptians set to protect their treasures from plunderers like him.
Development.
A Harvard University Egyptologist assisted in game design. One of the multiple endings was changed during playtesting because players thought that it rewarded an ethnic bias. There are 40 ways for the player to die.
Release.
"Infidel"s packaging includes the following physical items:
Reception.
"Softline" called "Infidel" "diabolical ... more death traps per square foot in the game than there are in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"". "PC Magazine" rated the game 12.0 points out of 12. It praised the sophisticated text parser, and described creator Michael Berlyn's prose as "exciting and fast-paced, with occasional bits of humor". Scorpia, normally a fan of Infocom games, so disliked "Infidel" that she never mentioned it in "Computer Gaming World". She denounced the game during an online discussion with Berlyn, however: "I did not like the premise of the story. I did not like the main character. I did not like the ending. I felt it was a poor choice to have a character like that in an Infocom game, since after all, regardless of the main character in the story, *I* am the only one who is really playing the game, really solving the puzzles".


KEDIT


HP-35

The HP-35 was Hewlett-Packard's first pocket calculator and the world's first "scientific" pocket calculator: a calculator with trigonometric and exponential functions. It was introduced in 1972.
History.
In about 1970 HP co-founder Bill Hewlett challenged his co-workers to create a "shirt-pocket sized HP-9100". At the time, slide rules were the only practical portable devices for performing trigonometric and exponential functions, as existing pocket calculators could only perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Introduced at $395 (), like HP's first scientific calculator, the desktop 9100A, it used Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) rather than what came to be called "algebraic" entry. The "35" in the calculator's name came from the number of keys.
The original HP-35 was available from 1972 to 1975. In 2007 HP announced the release of the "retro"-look HP 35s to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the launch of the original HP-35.
The HP-35 was named an IEEE Milestone in 2009.
Description.
The calculator used a traditional floating decimal display for numbers that could be displayed in that format, but automatically switched to scientific notation for other numbers. The fifteen-digit LED display was capable of displaying a ten-digit mantissa plus its sign and a decimal point and a two-digit exponent plus its sign. The display used a unique form of multiplexing, illuminating a single LED segment at a time rather than a single LED digit, because HP research had shown that this method was perceived by the human eye as brighter for equivalent power. Light emitting diodes were relatively new at the time and were much dimmer than high efficiency diodes developed in subsequent decades.
The calculator used three "AA"-sized NiCd batteries assembled into a removable proprietary battery pack. Replacement battery packs are no longer available, leaving existing HP-35 calculators to rely on AC power, or their users to rebuild the battery packs themselves using available cells. An external battery charger was available and the calculator could also run from the charger, with or without batteries installed.
Internally, the calculator was organized around a serial (one-bit) processor chipset made under contract by Mostek, processing 56-bit floating-point numbers, representing 14-digit BCD numbers.
The calculator had a four register stack (x, y, z and t), the 'enter' key pushed the displayed value (x) down the stack. Any binary operation popped the top two registers, and pushed the result. When the stack was popped the t register duplicated into the z register.
Descendants.
The HP-35 was the start of a family of related calculators with similar mechanical packaging:
Follow-on calculators used varying mechanical packaging but most were operationally similar. The HP-25 was a smaller, cheaper model of a programmable scientific calculator without magnetic card reader, with features much like the HP-65. The HP-41C was a major advance in programmability and capacity, and offered CMOS memory so that programs were not lost when the calculator was switched off. It was the first calculator to offer alphanumeric capabilities for both the display and the keyboard. Four external ports below the display area allowed memory expansion (RAM modules), loading of additional programs (ROM modules) and interfacing a wide variety of peripherals including HP-IL ("HP Interface Loop"), a scaled-down version of the HPIB/GPIB/IEEE-488 instrument bus. The later HP-28C and HP-28S added much more memory and a substantially different, more powerful programming metaphor.


Nikon D40

The Nikon D40 is Nikon F-mount entry-level digital SLR, announced November 16, 2006 and made until March 2009, when it was succeeded by the Nikon D3000. Compared to its predecessor, the D50, the D40 had several features removed, a few added, and a lower price: US$499.95 ESP as of November 2009 with the 18–55 mm G-II kit lens, positioning it as an entry-level model compared to the D80. The D40x (released March 6, 2007) has a 10-megapixel maximum resolution, up from 6 megapixels of the D40 and D50.
The D40 was the first Nikon DSLR without an in-body focus motor. Autofocus requires the use of a lens with an integrated autofocus-motor.
Despite being superseded by newer offerings, the Nikon D40 retained some significant advantages.
Features.
The Nikon D40 was less expensive than the Canon EOS 400D (also known as the Rebel XTi in the United States), the Pentax K110D, and the Olympus E-400, and is competitively priced against high-end bridge cameras (the D40 and D40x do not have live preview, unlike bridge digitals). It was launched accompanied by a new small kit lens, the AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18–55 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II. The D40's small size and low price made it attractive to point-and-shoot photographers moving up to their first SLR, however it does contain features and improvements that would appeal to enthusiasts as well.
Despite having a comparatively lower resolution for a DSLR introduced in 2006, the D40 held some benefits over its newer competition such as the Nikon D40x, D60, and Canon Rebels. Because only 6 megapixels are fit onto the standard Nikon DX format sensor, the sensitivity of each pixel is higher. The default sensitivity on the D40 is ISO 200, and the D40 adds an ISO 3200 speed (listed as "Hi1" in the camera menu) compared to the Nikon D50's maximum ISO 1600. The D40 has a very fast 1/500 flash sync, useful for daytime fill-flash. This compares to the typical 1/200 sync speed of other entry level and even some semi-pro DSLR cameras such as the Canon EOS 40D with its 1/250 sync speed.
Due to its hybrid electronic/mechanical shutter, it is in fact possible to flash sync the D40 beyond its published 1/500 maximum sync speed up to its maximum shutter speed of 1/4000. The D40x does not share this ability.
The D40 lacks a built-in autofocus motor, which means that only Nikon lenses designated with AF-I, AF-S or compatible focus motors can be used in autofocus mode.
Reception.
The Nikon D40 was tested by various independent reviewers, receiving generally very favorable comments for its ergonomics and image quality. It received some criticism for some of the compromises its designers made to keep the D40's price and size competitive. For example, "Digital Photography Review", among many others, noted the loss of the screw-drive autofocus motor and the top LCD panel.
Nikon D40x.
On March 6, 2007, Nikon introduced the D40X, a sister camera to the D40. While identical in external design to the D40, it has a 10.2-megapixel CCD sensor, continuous shooting up to 3 frames per second, and a base sensitivity of ISO 100 (as noted above, each pixel in the 10.2-megapixel sensor receives less light than the pixels in the D40 sensor). It has a flash sync speed of 1/200 seconds compared to the D40's 1/500 seconds. It is otherwise identical.
The launch was accompanied by the introduction of a new consumer-level telephoto zoom with vibration reduction. Nikon ceased production of the D40X in December 2007, shortly before they introduced its successor, the Nikon D60.


Nikon Coolpix L3

The Coolpix L3 is a discontinued compact point-and-shoot digital camera produced by Nikon. It was branded as part of the "Life" or "L-series" cameras in the Coolpix family. It had a 5.1 megapixel maximum resolution, 2" TFT LCD monitor, 3x Optical Zoom, D-Lighting, and Face-priority AF.


Arcticfox

Arcticfox is a science fiction tank simulation video game developed by Dynamix and published by Electronic Arts in 1986. It was published in Europe by Ariolasoft. A sequel to Dynamix's "Stellar 7", "Arcticfox" was developed for the Amiga as one of the platform's first titles but was quickly ported to other platforms including the Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS and Apple II. A third game was released in the series in 1991 titled "".
The game is set in a fictional 2005 where aliens have taken over Antarctica in an attempt to steal the Earth's oxygen. The player is sent to eradicate the intruders using a new super tank codenamed "Arcticfox".
"Arcticfox"'s design team at Dynamix went on to produce "The Incredible Machine" and "Red Baron".
Gameplay.
The player must pilot the tank into enemy territory with the goal of knocking out the alien base. The player uses the tank's abilities to destroy the aliens' ships and equipment. The Arcticfox tank is equipped with a cannon, guided missiles and land mines, and is outfitted with radar, a GPS device, and fore and aft viewscreens. The player fights a variety of enemy units including planes, tanks, bunkers and communication towers.
The vantage point for the game is the cockpit of the Arcticfox tank. The player can see out of the main viewscreen as well as the tank's sundry features such as the radar screen. The view also shows the character's hand on the joystick which moves in accordance with the tank's movements. Enemy targets are visible on the view screens and on radar.
Reception.
"Computer Gaming World" called "Arcticfox" "the first original "new" [EA game] that uses the distinctive features of the Amiga", calling the graphics and sound "Sensational!". It advised using a joystick instead of the mouse. In 1996, the magazine ranked the Amiga version of "Arcticfox" as the 138th best game of all time, calling it "the seminal 3D polygon-based shooter." "Compute!" also praised the Amiga version, and stated that the game would appeal to those who enjoyed both strategy and arcade action. "If you could buy only one game for your Atari ST, it might be Arctic Fox", "Antic" said, concluding that it was "a game you will return to play time and time again". "Info" magazine gave the Commodore 64 version four-plus stars out of five, praising its "great 3-D graphics", "intuitive control interface", and control over missiles. The staff of "Crash" magazine were critical of the ZX Spectrum version of the game, giving it an overall score of 41%.
See also.
"Skyfox" (1984), EA's first game with the "fox" suffix. The sequel, "", was developed by Dynamix.


OmniROM

OmniROM is an open-source operating system for smartphones and tablet computers, based on the Android mobile platform. It involves a number of prominent developers from other projects.
Development.
OmniROM was founded in reaction to the commercialisation of ROM project CyanogenMod. At launch, the project provided custom firmware based on Android Jelly Bean, and they moved to Android KitKat shortly after its release. Their KitKat firmware included support for the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S3, Galaxy S4, Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 (2012), LG Optimus G, Galaxy S2, HTC One (2013), Oppo Find 5, Sony Xperia T, Acer Iconia A500, HTC Explorer and Lenovo A6000.
OmniROM quickly gained popularity during development of Android 4.4 KitKat.
Russell Holly of Geek.com said "OmniRom is the ultimate Android tweaker ROM." A later review said OmniROM is "one of the few community-focused Android builds available today that is focused on supporting as many devices as possible while adding new features as often as possible."
In June 2015, the project started to release nightly builds based on Android Lollipop for the Asus Transformer Pad, Asus Transformer Pad Infinity, Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Oppo Find 7/7a, OnePlus One, Sony Xperia Z and Sony Xperia ZL.
Tomek Kondrat of XDA Developers, after an interview of two developers, said OmniROM has a distinct and polished Android experience, with a history of introducing excellent features, and said "Innovation, transparency, community, and freedom are the founding ideas behind the project!"
OmniROM was one of the first custom ROMs to provide patches for the KRACK security vulnerability.
In a detailed review on the OnePlus 5T for XDA Developers, Jeff McIntire concluded "OmniROM has some unique features" and called it "a no-frills, easy-to-configure ROM that won’t bog down your phone with bloatware."
As of January 2018, Oreo builds were on a weekly update schedule. Williams Pelegrin of Android Authority said OmniROM is one of the more popular Android ROMs available, and it contains little to no bloatware; however, he criticized OmniROM’s camera app for taking pictures that are over-exposed and blurrier, particularly in low-light conditions.
OmniROM was one of several ROM development teams being courted by ASUS, teaming with XDA, to help seed development for ZenFone 6.
OmniROM was the first custom ROM for OnePlus 7T.
OmniROM has been mentioned in books.
OmniROM is currently based on Android 10.
In March 2020, OmniROM began offering builds including MicroG.


Tsort

The tsort program is a command line utility on Unix and Unix-like platforms, that performs a topological sort on its input. , it is part of the POSIX.1 standard.
History.
According to its info page, this command was initially written for providing an ordering of object files that allowed the linker to process them sequentially (each one exactly once, and in order). The FreeBSD manual page dates its appearance to Version 7 Unix.
Note that the following description is describing the behaviour of the FreeBSD implementation of tsort and mentions GNU features where they may exist. Other implementations or versions may differ.
Syntax.
 tsort [-dlq] [FILE]
FreeBSD options can be:
 -d turn on debugging
 -l search for and display the longest cycle.
 -q Do not display informational messages about cycles.
GNU provides the following options only:
 --help display help message and exit
 --version display version information and exit
There are no options prescribed by POSIX.
Behavior.
tsort reads its input (from the given FILE, or standard input if no input file is given or for a FILE of '-') as pairs of strings, separated by blanks, indicating a partial ordering. The output is a total ordering that corresponds to the given partial ordering.
In other words: for a directed acyclic graph (used as a dependency graph), tsort produces a listing of the
vertices so that for all edges 'a->b', 'a' comes before 'b' in the listing.
Examples.
tsort lists the vertices of a directed acyclic graph in such an order that all ordering/direction relations are respected:
Call graph.
tsort can help rearranging functions in a source file so that as many as possible are defined before they are used (Interpret the following as: calls , and ; calls , and so on. The result is that should be defined first, second, etc.):
Library.
The traditional ld (Unix linker) requires that its library inputs be sorted in topological order, since it processes files in a single pass. This applies both to static libraries () and dynamic libraries (), and in the case of static libraries preferably for the individual object files contained within.
BSD UNIX uses tsort as a common part of the typical ar & ranlib command invocations (from /usr/share/mk/bsd.lib.mk):
 @${ECHO} building static ${LIB} library
Here ("library order") is used to generate the inter-file dependency list by inspecting the symbol table.
Usage notes.
Notice the interchangeability of white space separators so the following inputs are equivalent:
Pairs of identical items indicate presence of a vertex, but not ordering (so the following represents one vertex without edges):
 a a
Strictly speaking there is no topological ordering of a graph that contains one or more cycles. However tsort prints a warning and GNU tsort prints the detected cycles to standard error (lines beginning with 'tsort:'):
$ tsort «EOF
> a b
> b c
> c a
> EOF
UX: tsort: INFORM: cycle in data
tsort: a
tsort: b
tsort: c
a
b
c
External links.
manual page of tsort on


The Battle of Shiloh (video game)

The Battle of Shiloh is a 1981 video game published by Strategic Simulations. It is regarded as one of the first Civil War strategy computer games, and was the first Strategic Simulations game available on the TRS-80. Intended as an introductory war game (along with "Tigers in the Snow"), it was available on the Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, TRS-80 and IBM PC, and was originally developed by David Landry and Chuck Kroegel through their studio "Tactical Design Group".
Gameplay.
"The Battle of Shiloh" is a game in which the player can reenact the Battle of Shiloh. Playing either against the computer or another player, players employ infantry and artilary units to compete for control of the Pittsburgh Landing. Although based on the historical battle, players can modify the strengths of the respective Conferderate and Union armies, and the game takes into account the impact of terrain. Players can also modify the level of risk and strategy for both the defender and attacker, and as the original battle involved an element of surprise, the first four moves of the game are weighted towards the Confederates. The game can also be set for two computer players, allowing for some "valuable lessons for raw recruits to computer war gaming".
Reception.
Bob Proctor reviewed the game for "Computer Gaming World", and stated that "This is a very well designed product. Although it will take at least 2 hours to play the first day (and as much as 5 hours for both days), there are no periods of inactivity longer than 5 seconds or so. The game is absorbing; you are constantly making decisions and watching for weaknesses in the enemy." Robert Fox raised concerns regarding the lack of sound, the "murky" graphics, and the randomised outcomes of battles, but ROM Magazine found the graphics to be good, and commenting on the Apple II version of the game, reviewers Mike Shadick and Sallie Stephenson described the graphics on that platform as outstanding. In regard to the computer player, Proctor criticised choices made to improve the game balance, as the computer was given extra mobility to make up for shortcomings in the AI, and concluded that it was a game better played against another person – a concern also reflected in Laurance Miller's review for "Micro Adventurer". Similarly, ROM magazine felt that the computer moves were too slow, even though they appreciated the game's flexibility and the clear theme. Reviewing the game for "The Minneapolis Star", Dale Archibald found it easy to play and described it as a "thoughtful recreation of a battle that could have changed the course of this country's history".


Bare Bones Software

Bare Bones Software is a private North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, United States software company developing software tools for the Apple Macintosh platform. The company developed the BBEdit text editor, marketed under the registered trademark "It doesn't suck", and has been mentioned as a "top-tier Mac developer" by Mac OS X journalist John Siracusa.
The company was founded in May 1993, and incorporated under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in June 1994.
Product list.
Discontinued:


UNIVAC II

The UNIVAC II was an improvement to the UNIVAC I that UNIVAC first delivered in 1958. The improvements included core memory of 2,000 to 10,000 words, UNISERVO II tape drives which could use either the old UNIVAC I metal tapes or the new PET tapes, and some of the circuits were transistorized although it was still a vacuum tube computer. It was fully compatible with existing UNIVAC I programs for both code and data. It weighed about .
Circuit elements of entire system.
Above figures are approximate and do not include input-output devices.
Programming and numerical system.

Decimal point occurs at the right of the sign digit.
Arithmetic unit.
Addition, subtraction, and multiplication times given below include reading and executing the instruction. The time includes formation of the result in the accumulator. All instructions, however are performed at minimum latency rates.
Magnetic core.
All users utilize a 2,000-word, 24,000-digit magnetic-core storage unit. Each of the planes is divided into two sections of 50 by 40 cores, making 2,000 cores in each section. Each section contains one core - for one binary position (bit) - of every one of the 2,000 words. The same relative binary position of the other half-word is held in a core in the same physical location in the other section of the plane. Thus each plane contains two binary positions in each of 2,000 words; the first and 43rd, for example, or the 9th and 52nd. Physically the memory is a rectangular prism .
A memory location thus always implies two cores in all 42 planes. The two cores are determined by the intersection of one column of fifty possible columns with two rows of the 80 possible rows. One row is in each section of the plane. All 42 planes are used twice for each word.
Associated with the memory is a half-word insertion register of 42-bit capacity. Each bit is temporarily stored in a magnetic core of this register during a memory reference. Each of these register cores is associated with one of the 42 memory planes. To write into the memory, the first half of the word is placed in the insertion register and the address selector alerts the appropriate column and the proper row of the top section in each of the 42 planes. At the appropriate instant the information is transferred from each core of the insertion register to the selected core in the corresponding plane of the memory. Forty-two pulse times later, the second half word has been placed in the insertion register and the process is repeated in the lower section of the memory. Read-outs are accomplished in a reverse manner. The speed of the memory has been adjusted to the speed of the arithmetic portion of the Univac which permits the transfer into or out of the memory of 12 characters in 40 microseconds. Word pulses flow from or to the high speed bus and the insertion register via a mechanism which converts from serial to parallel and vice versa, in 42-bit modules.
Checking features.
Whenever feasible, registers and other circuits appear in duplicate. Their contents are continuously compared so that inconsistencies between the data in the identical units give an indication of faulty operation, and stall the computer. At this point, the instruction may be repeated. The pulse code used in the Univac System is so designed that all characters contain an odd number of pulses. At several strategic points within Univac, every character is checked for an odd number of pulses. An indication is given whenever an even number of pulses is detected, and the computer stalls. Other types of checking circuits cause Univac to stall when other types of errors occur.
An error occurs if reference to a non-existent memory address is attempted.
An odd-even error in the transfer rI to rM will result in a transfer stop and the location of the error (rI address) will be indicated. The 720 character count will be displayed on a modulus 100 counter.
"All ones" checker.
In addition to the parity bits check on the high-speed bus, a second checker establishes that the invalid "all ones" character is not inadvertently created by a system fault. Input and output checkers also detect the invalid "all ones" character.
Built-in checking features are contained in the Card-to-Tape Converter, the Tape-to-Card Converter and the High Speed Printer.
Fusing.
Univac is completely fused in order that faults may be isolated. Each bay has its own set of fuses in addition to main fuses on all DC and AC potentials. If a fuse blows, power is shut off and an indicator circuit shows in which bay the blown fuse is located, and a "flag" indicates the specific fuse.
Voltage monitoring.
An automatic voltage monitoring system continuously monitors all critical DC potentials giving an alarm if any moves outside the prescribed limits.
Notes.
Much of the text in this article was extracted directly from Universal Automatic Computer Model II, which is in the public domain as an original work of the United States Federal Government (US Army). It was published as "A Third Survey of Domestic Electronic Digital Computing Systems", Report No. 1115, March 1961, by Martin H. Weik, published by Ballistic Research Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. Department of the Army Project No. 5803-06-002.


Zzap!64

Zzap!64 was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
The magazine launched in April, with the cover date May 1985, as the sister magazine to "CRASH". It focused on the C64 for much of its shelf life, but later incorporated Amiga game news and reviews. Like "CRASH" for the ZX Spectrum, it had a dedicated cult following amongst C64 owners and was well known for its irreverent sense of humour as well as its extensive, detailed coverage of the C64 scene. The magazine adopted an innovative review system that involved the use of the reviewers' faces, artistically rendered by in-house artists Oli Frey and Mark Kendrick, to express their reaction to the games. These eventually evolved into static cartoons as the magazine began catering for a younger market.
By 1992, the magazine had changed so dramatically in design and editorial direction that then-publisher Europress decided to relaunch the magazine. Thus, issue 91 of "Zzap!64" became issue 1 of "Commodore Force", a magazine that itself lasted until March 1994.
History.
The first issue of "Zzap!64", dated May 1985, was released on 11 April 1985. Its inaugural editorial team included editor Chris Anderson, Software Editor Bob Wade, freelance writer Steve Cooke (who joined the staff from the recently folded "Personal Computer Games"), and reviewers Gary Penn and Julian Rignall, who won their jobs after having placed as finalists at a video game competition. The editorial headquarters was in Yeovil, more than 120 miles from Newsfield's headquarters in Ludlow; the team was relocated to Ludlow after three months to cut costs, and Anderson and Wade left the staff after declining to make the move. Anderson would later found Future Publishing and the TED Conference.
As the Amiga gained popularity in the UK, "Zzap!64" began to publish occasional reviews of Amiga games. The Amiga coverage became a fixed feature of the magazine in issue 43 (November 1988), when the title was renamed to "Zzap!64 Amiga".
The magazine experienced controversy in 1989, when three out of four reviewers (Gordon Houghton, Kati Hamza and Maff Evans) were fired and replaced during production of issue 50 (June 1989). The only one remaining, Paul Rand, had been employed at "Zzap!64" a mere two months. Issue 50's editorial mentioned nothing of what happened, and the issue featured content from the three fired reviewers without discussing their fates.
Issue 74 (June 1991) saw the dropping of all Amiga coverage (the word "Amiga" was dropped from the name in 1990), and the magazine became completely devoted to the C64 once more. Four months later the publisher Newsfield declared bankruptcy and publication was suspended for a month. Europress Impact (a satellite company of Europress launched by Roger Kean, Oliver Frey and Jonathan Rignall) became the new publisher of "Zzap!64", beginning with issue 79 (December 1991).
Issue 90 (November 1992) was the last official "Zzap!64" issue. From the following month, the magazine was replaced by "Commodore Force".
In Italy.
The Italian edition (just titled "ZZap!"), authorised by the original publisher, was not limited to Commodore 64 games, but it also reviewed games for other 8-bit machines like the ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC and the Atari 8-bit family. Around 80% of the content was translated with the remainder written in Italy. From issue 1 (May 1986) to issue 73 (December 1992) it was released as an actual magazine; with issue 74 (January 1993) it became an inset of the Italian version of The Games Machine until December 1993 when it stopped being published.
From 1996 to 1999, "Zzap!" became an online magazine, a PC gaming website with a different "cover" each month and a mailbag, which reviewed games with the same style of the original magazine.
In 2002, a special "issue 85", dedicated to then recently released games for 8-bit machines, was released in PDF format.
Commemorative issues.
In March 2002, a special "Issue 107" of "Zzap!64" was published digitally in PDF format, later receiving a limited print run of 200 copies. Originally intended as a fan project based on a suggestion by journalist Cameron Davis in a "Zzap!64" discussion forum, a number of ex-Newsfield writers later volunteered to join the project, including former editors Gordon Houghton, Robin Hogg and Paul Glancey.
The special issue reflected the C64's continuing popularity in the 21st Century as a platform for retro gamers and hobbyists, with the majority of reviews focusing on recently released C64 games. The magazine's design was based on "classic era" "Zzap!64", and the front cover was based on an illustration by former Newsfield artist Oli Frey, significantly revised by designer Craig Grannell.
Another special issue of "Zzap!64" was created in July 2005 to celebrate the magazine's twentieth anniversary. Dubbed "The Def Tribute to Zzap!64", it was professionally printed and given away with issue 18 of "Retro Gamer" magazine. Although more celebratory and retrospective in design than issue 107, it nevertheless featured a great deal of new content, including a foreword and articles by former Newsfield director and "Zzap!64" editor Roger Kean and new material from former editors Gary Penn and Chris Anderson. The front cover and centerfold featured rare illustrations by Oli Frey from his pre-Newsfield days.
External links.
 on the Internet Archive


Ventura Publisher


Casio FX-603P

The FX-603P was a programmable calculator, manufactured by CASIO from 1990. It was the successor model to the Casio FX-602P. Since it was only released in a limited number of countries in small quantities, it is now an excessively rare item which commands high prices when sold.
Display.
The FX-603P featured a two line dot matrix display with 16 characters each as main display. An additional 4 digits 7-segment display used to display the program step when entering or debugging programs and 20 status indicators.
Programming.
The programming model employed was key stroke programming by which each key pressed was recorded and later played back. On record multiple key presses were merged into a single programming step. There were only a very few operations which needed two bytes.
The FX-603P could store 6,144 steps. Data could be stored in 110 memory register. The FX-603P series supported 20 labels for programs and subroutines called P0 .. P19 - twice the amount of the predecessor models. Each program or subroutine could have up to 10 local labels called LBL0 .. LBL9 for jumps and branches.
The FX-603P supported indirect addressing both for memory access and jumps and therefore programming model could be considered Turing complete.
The FX-603P was backward-compatible with the FX-602P could load FX-602P programs from Compact Cassette.
Programming example.
Here is a sample program that computes the factorial of an integer number from 2 to 69. For 5!, you'll type codice_1 codice_2 and get the result, 120. With the additional alpha output the program is 14 byte long.
Interface.
The FX-603P used the same FA-6 interface as used by the Casio FX-840P, Casio FX-841P, Casio FX-850P, Casio FX-860P, Casio FX-860Pvc, Casio FX-870P, Casio FX-880P, Casio FX-890P, Casio VX-1, Casio VX-2, Casio VX-3, Casio VX-4, Casio Z-1 and Casio Z-1GR programmable calculator and pocket computers. This interface features a Kansas City standard Compact Cassette interface, a Centronics printer port and a RS-232 interface.


Microsoft FlexGo

FlexGo was a technology developed by Microsoft to enable users to pay for using a full-featured personal computer based on the amount of time it used for, similar to pay as you go for cell phones. Another method of payment was a monthly subscription. It was introduced on May 22, 2006. IBM and other corporations were also adapting similar business models to expand into new markets.
Goals.
FlexGo's main target audience was those in third world countries or people with unsteady income. It had been featured under a topic on Leo Laporte's This Week in Tech, Episode 57 "Vloggercon". Microsoft wanted to give people the opportunity to buy their very first computer using FlexGo, and pay for only the time they would use it. Microsoft also planned to team up with telecommunication companies to allow internet access to become a pay as you go feature. The main targeted areas for FlexGo are India, Hungary, Vietnam, Slovenia, and Brazil.


Volfied

 is an arcade game designed by Fukio Mitsuji and released by Taito in 1989. It is a successor to "Qix", with extra features and a futuristic science fiction aesthetic, rather than "Qix"s abstract geometry style; the player pilots a small spaceship named "Monotros" instead of a Stix, and the enemies come in the form of various aliens.
Story.
Taking place in another galaxy, a space pilot is returning to his home world of Volfied, only to discover that it is under attack by an unknown alien force. The few remaining Volfied inhabitants are in an underground location of the planet and signal the pilot to their aid. The pilot flies to Volfied using his ship's defensive weapons in order to eliminate the alien threat and save his people.
Gameplay.
The overall gameplay is identical to that of "Qix". However, the main enemy is no longer a collection of lines - instead it varies between levels, and is always accompanied by smaller enemies. When the player's spaceship succeeds in claiming a section of the level, the side where the main enemy is taken as "the outside". Any smaller enemies ending up on "the inside" are killed, resulting in point bonuses. In order to complete a level, the player must claim at least 80% of a level's area. Previously, the limits were 75% in "Qix" and 70% in "Super Qix". Each level in Volfied has a unique background and enemies. As the player claims areas of the level the cleared area graphic is replaced with the graphic of the next level. Grey boxes also appear on the field — these give the player a random power-up when collected. Power-ups can grant the player speed or even weapons. There is a special completion bonus on certain levels, often attained by shooting the main enemy.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "Volfied" on their September 15, 1989 issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.


Casio FX-502P


ICL DRS 20


Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ48

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ48 is a digital camera by Panasonic Lumix. The highest-resolution pictures it records is 12.1 megapixels, through its 25mm Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT.