Well, here comes another strange and seemingly random post, but you'll see how it ties in with the theme around here in a minute.
I just want to point something out, to anyone who has lived in a hole. (or is too young to know about it) The Demoscene is something which I have noticed many young people today seem to entirely miss, and which older geeks seem to have abandoned. However, it's still around, and still very strong. Of course, if you don't know what the 'scene is about you need to visit Pouet now and see for yourself.
For those who know the 'scene, here are some things which I find to be of special interest to people with the following interests/tastes:
For Linux users, or anyone who knows how to work CDRDao, check out the Demovibes series of disk images in MP3/CUE format. Gapless demo music CD's = bliss.
For retro computing enthusaists I would suggest looking at the latest Demovibes album in particular, Demovibes Live, which consists of live remixes of old-school and new-school demo music from Willbe and Moonove, two excellent musicians. Overall a much more "consistent" sound compared to other Demovibes releases, and very nice to hear the classics redone in such a tasteful manner.
Lastly, to anyone who loves the "Zen" aspect of retrocomputing (simplicity in form and function, etc) check out Paniq and Xerxes for some really appealing music. I enjoyed Paniq's album "Advertising for Metaphysics" and his single "masagin," which I consider to be one of his best works. From Xerxes be sure to check out "The Mirror Formula" and "Chillosophy 3," both of which are very ambient and perfect for those late night programming flings in Applesoft. ;)
(Note, Chillosophy 3 is not available as a music-only download, but as a music disk on Pouet. I'm sure you can figure out how to listen to it.)
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Hacking up bootlegs
Heh, as if a bootleg wasn't hacked up enough...
My latest project will involve the documentation, dissection, and modification of one or more bootleg Neo Geo MVS carts. Yes, they are frowned upon and detested by the Neo-Geo.com community, but I intend to make something cool and/or useful out of them. After all, nobody really wants them around, people throw them away, but nobody in the community really knows how they work or what can be done with them. I intend to find out. A list of hypothetical uses for bootleg carts I have come up with should be helpful to clarify:
- document MVS memory mappers for homebrew developers
- salvage original PCB's for doing repair jobs on legit carts
- fix 'em up for personal enjoyment (I like fixing things)
- any other situation which requires an MVS cartridge that nobody cares if it gets broken
Most bootlegs are said to be buggy and it is often said that they seem to have reliability issues. The main reason for this is amateure soldering skills. Yup. Most bootlegs are done by one-man operations, working out of a basement with some flash chips or eproms. Most of the reliability issues have to do with poor soldering, which can be fixed easily in most cases. Most damage is caused by jarring the cartridge, which cracks the solder joints. With a proper heat-controlled iron these joints can be reflowed and the main problem solved.
My latest project will involve the documentation, dissection, and modification of one or more bootleg Neo Geo MVS carts. Yes, they are frowned upon and detested by the Neo-Geo.com community, but I intend to make something cool and/or useful out of them. After all, nobody really wants them around, people throw them away, but nobody in the community really knows how they work or what can be done with them. I intend to find out. A list of hypothetical uses for bootleg carts I have come up with should be helpful to clarify:
- document MVS memory mappers for homebrew developers
- salvage original PCB's for doing repair jobs on legit carts
- fix 'em up for personal enjoyment (I like fixing things)
- any other situation which requires an MVS cartridge that nobody cares if it gets broken
Most bootlegs are said to be buggy and it is often said that they seem to have reliability issues. The main reason for this is amateure soldering skills. Yup. Most bootlegs are done by one-man operations, working out of a basement with some flash chips or eproms. Most of the reliability issues have to do with poor soldering, which can be fixed easily in most cases. Most damage is caused by jarring the cartridge, which cracks the solder joints. With a proper heat-controlled iron these joints can be reflowed and the main problem solved.
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