Ariel Millennium Thornton @arielmt@computerfairi.es

In the "Aliens" episode of "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking," Professor Hawking remarked, "Like us, they would probably have evolved from a species used to exploiting whatever it can. So, if aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America. Which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."

Can we finally defenestrate the "Microsoft Windows as a Service" OS model yet?

"Microsoft Windows as a Disservice"

I fear I need to be told when I'm out of line for jumping into a conversation between people I follow. I mean well for everyone, but the fear of not coming across that way without realizing it just eats away at me.

The little I've been able to read suggests this is just the way it is, due to the ZX81's lack of porches in the video signal. So I either live with it or do a composite mod.

It also could be where the disks were stored. This set shipped from New Jersey, & nothing indicates it was anything other than new-old stock that spent virtually its entire life there. I got several other boxes from Utah with PC-XT disks in them, & there wasn't any visible damage.

Lightly related, here's an hour of someone playing a great game better than the Pac-Man Atari eventually released, which Atari sued out of the market for vaguely resembling Pac-Man, K.C. Munchkin: https://youtu.be/zwhf9pL9COo

The video is all game; no letterbox, tiles, cut-to-player, or picture-in-picture, but I was inclined to turn down the volume after a few minutes.

Atari Age is selling cartriges of what Pac-Man should have been: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1010 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAYuBcuvIww

My expectations were defeated at a pretty young age. Here's an Atari 2600 Pac-Man commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m15geAyLtVI

Is English the only language in which we buy a liquid called gas (for driving) & in which we buy a gas called liquid (for heating & cooking)?

Well, that's it. The heads look good & clean, & they're on right, all the cables are firmly seated right, the belt's having no trouble turning the spindle, & all but one of the boot disks I tried are good & readable. I changed drives & moved the belt to it, & same thing. The computer's just refusing to boot.

Make backups, folks! Here's softing Microfuck's instructions: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17143/windows-10-back-up-your-files

How, exactly, does the most powerful Micro[computer]-Soft[ware] company in the world let a major update release to the general public with the side effect of

DELETE

FUCKING

EVERYTHING

in the locations they've spent the last 20+ years telling everyone to use!?

- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/10/05/avoid-windows-10-october-update-until-you-do-one-thing/#7c2962373e79

- https://twitter.com/coolKevinator/status/1047714803127476225

- https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/windows-10-october-2018-update-version-1809/1a924008-ddba-48db-a96f-7b4bfef9039a

- https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-october-update-problems-wiped-docs-plus-intel-driver-warning/

I got the belt back, but they sanded the new belt down to the correct width instead of replacing it. Eh, whatever works.

I installed it in one of my bad-belt floppy drives, and it's actually grabbing the spindle enough to grab the metal hub & spin the mylar disc! Progress!

But the drive isn't reading any of my boot disks. Bummer. Next step: Check the heads & hope I didn't break one.
💾

If you're able to pry off the LRFs (Little Rubber Feet) without dirtying or damaging the sticky stuff & without leaving any sticky stuff behind, you can use a clean backing sheet for stickers or peel-off stick-on labels to keep the LRFs clean & easy to peel off when it comes time to put them back on the computer.

Make sure to peel off any sticker chaff first if you use a sticker sheet. You don't want to stick the LRFs to any sticker parts, only backing parts.

Life-Hecker