#what’s the A500?

[consideratesea]

the thing is I do actually need to pull up a map when I listen to Elis and John

[maverickuk]

I've been waiting years to get my hands on a Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ so that I can try the PiStorm project in my Amiga 500

If you're not familiar, it allows for the Motorola 68000 CPU of an Amiga to be replaced with a Raspberry Pi that in turn emulates the original CPU in software.

At a basic level this lets you upgrade the performance of the Amiga, as it's possible to run at much faster speeds than the original CPU. Very useful

However that's only the start of the feature set. You can also simulate additional memory, hard drive support, retargetable graphics (to output via the Pi's HDMI port), networking support, upgrading the native Kickstart ROM and more.

Essentially as the CPU socket has access to all the components of the Amiga, it has the capability to override and replace any of these native chips.

What better excuse and environment to perform the upgrade than the September 2023 SWAG meet up.

After cracking open my A500 for the first time I gently unseated the 68000 from it's socket and prepared to install the PiStorm. It was only then I realised I'd forgotten to bring the vital component, a small board that allows the Pi to connect to the 68000 socket! Oh well, an excuse to play some games instead!

Once I was back in my workshop at home I decided to finish the job. Thankfully with all the correct hardware at hand it was a quick and easy task to get it up and running.

It was certainly quite a nice feeling the first time I started the emulator on the Pi and was rewarded by similar the familiar Kickstart 1.3 appear on the CRT monitor connected to the Amiga.

Seeing old and new hardware work in tandem always gives me a buzz

Finally I setup an FTP server on the Pi that enabled me to easily copy across a newer Kickstart version. After restarting the emulator on the Pi suddenly my A500 felt a lot newer.

Next on my list, to setup a virtual hard drive filled with classic games

[herohimbowhore]

Formula 1 Car Naming Conventions

With F1 car launches in full force, I have been looking into why teams name their cars the way that they do. Each team has a different naming convention. Some of the naming conventions are easy to understand like RB19. Then there are the many Ferrari naming conventions (SF-23, F1-75, SF1000, etc).

So here are the current naming conventions for each team in order of car launch dates.

Haas

The 2024 Haas car is called the VF-24.

In an article for the 2016 Haas Car Launch, it was explained why they named the car the VF-16.

The first CNC machine manufactured by Haas Automation in 1988. It was unofficially named the VF-1, otherwise known as the Very First 1. For Formula 1, Haas kept the VF and changed the 1 for the last two digits of the year. VF-16 = 2016, VF-23 = 2023, etc.

Williams

The 2024 Williams car is called the FW46.

Every car by Williams has carried the FW prefix, with the first one being the FW06 in 1978. The FW in the name stands for the founder of the team, Sir Frank Williams. Despite the Williams family no longer being involved in the team, the current owners have kept the naming convention as a link to the storied history of Williams Racing.

If the car keeps the same chassis as the previous year, then a B is added to the end of the name to show that it is a B-Spec car (and on a few occasions there have been C-Spec cars).

Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber

The 2024 Sauber car is called the C44.

Sauber made its debut with the C12 in 1993 and has since used this naming convention except for the BMW Sauber years. But after BMW left, Sauber returned to using C and picked up the numbers where it would have been if the naming convention hadn't changed.

The C stands for Peter Sauber's wife Christiane. His first car was called the C1 and since then all Sauber cars (with the exception of the BMW Sauber cars) have used the C for Christiane.

Alpine

The 2024 Alpine car is called the A524.

Since Renault became Alpine in 2021, all of their cars have had the following naming formula: A + 5 + the last two digits of the year.

In January 2021, the team explained why the 2021 car was called the A521. The A is for Alpine. The 5 is for A500, which was a prototype for the 1975 F1 season. All of the cars since 2021, have followed this naming convention and have just changed the 21 to correspond with the current year.

Visa Cash App RB

The Visa Cash App RB 2024 car is called the VCARB 01.

There really isn't much about the team as of right now due to the rebrand changing up everything from the previous AlphaTauri stuff. However, VCARB is the acronym for the team name and this is the first car to be run under the rebrand, thus the 01.

Aston Martin

The Aston Martin 2024 car is called the AMR24.

Since 2021, Aston Martin has used the same naming convention: AMR + the last 2 digits of the current year. The AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing.

Ferrari

The 2024 Ferrari car is named the SF-24.

However, unlike the other teams, it is hard to predict what the Ferrari will be named. In recent years, there have been the F1-75, SF21, SF1000, SF90, F14-T, and 150º Italia just to list a few of the names.

For 2024, it is a simple naming convention that has been used in the past. SF = Scuderia Ferrari and then the last two digits of the year the car will be run.

RacingNews365 made a chart of every Ferrari car since 2000 and the meaning behind the name. For the most part, the formula for naming the car is either Ferrari/Scuderia Ferrari + year or important event commemoration.

Ferrari also uses the dash inconsistently which doesn't really mean anything, but is just not the most aesthetically pleasing when looking at a list of all the car names.

Mercedes

The 2024 Mercedes car is called the W15.

All Mercedes cars have had a W in the car name, even the 1954 and 1955 cars. The 2010 Mercedes car was the W01 and since then the team has continued chronologically.

The W stands for Wagen which means car in German.

McLaren

The 2024 McLaren car is called the MCL38.

The numbers have been ascending since almost the beginning with a few B-Spec cars for the most part. However, the beginning letters have changed over the years. Since 2017, McLaren has used MCL. And just as it looks, MCL is short for McLaren.

The 2023 car didn't have the chronological number due to honoring McLaren's 60 years of history.

Red Bull

The 2024 Red Bull car is named the RB 20.

Since its first year, the Red Bull cars have been given the RB designation along with a chronologically ascending number. The RB as expected stands for Red Bull.

The RB 20 marks 20 seasons of Red Bull in Formula One.

[hol-hot-wholesome]

I've been dabbling in retrogaming once again...

The last time I seriously looked at an emulator outside of MAME, was probably several years ago. However, with the impending (hopefully) demise of the AAA gaming industry, I felt like revisiting the titles of yore, and a little more besides...

Y'see, a company called CMD brought out an addon for the C64, an accelerator that they called the "SuperCPU", because that's what it was, a 65816 CPU, which was compatible with the 64's 6510 CPU, but ran at a then-blistering 20MHz. And since about 2013, the VICE Emulator has emulated this configuration. I hardly thought anything of it, until recently.

Because using the WinUAE Emulator, which emulates the Amiga family of computers, has become, over time, less and less painful, to the point that it's very little trouble (he said after spending 2 days configuring and re-configuring the bloody thing) to get a quick game of your favourite A500 title up and running.

But that's the beauty of WinUAE, and the reason that I spent 2 days testing my configurations and deleting any duplicates, because WinUAE can also be configured now, to emulate the more powerful Big-Box Amigas, such as the A4000, and even run CPU-crushing games (Such as Frontier: Elite II) and Demos (Such as The Black Lotus' show-stopping Starstruck from Assembly 2006) through emulation of higher level 68k CPUs like the 68040, and 68060. (Though I'm still working on getting that one into a usable config)

Which Brings me to my point: With ever-evolving and improving emulation, Inquiring minds could create new software that utilises the expanded hardware to create the almost impossible, First-Person Shooters on SCPU-equipped C64s, or even SCPU-equipped C128s, whose VDC chips could go above and beyond. Higher-polygon-count games and Demos on Emulated hyper-powerful Amigas, that could rival even the Playstation 2!

Of course, it's all old technology, and the fact that a mid-range Ryzen-5-3600 equipped PC can run all of this so well speaks volumes about how far computing has come in just 3 short decades.

But it's an untapped vein of creativity, and technology, and I'd be very excited to see where it goes from here.

[riotatthemovies]

Dominator (2003) Only something made in 2003 could feel so 90s. I remember in 1994 playing a nonsense cd rom called Total Distortion about warped looking people making music videos cause rock was the revolution. Well imagine if that game got possessed by Satan and the 94 graphics didn't get any better. This is one of those infamous cgi animated movies that looks like it was cut scenes from a game. Emotionless faced sprites moving around and flapping their gums to fit the dialog. BUT someone forgot to take their ridilin this time. Fire , lasers , lighting and talking skulls come nonstop like radiskull and devil doll had gone so fuckin metal they blasted into space. Written by British comic book legend Alan Grant comes a complete jerk off idea that's so 90s it's sick, basically Spawn meets Lobo with Evil Ernie and Lady Death crammed in. Yeah basically Dominator is a giant metal take on Spawn but instead of being a human damned to hell he is a demon warped to earth and now all he wants to do is play guitar, talk shit and get laid while also crushing heads and threatening everyone. All the female characters are all the same graphic sprite just giving different hair and costumes, usually with their butts out. It ramps my ADHD so hard it gives me a nose bleed how the characters all have so little animation yet so much is happening at the same time. Flash cuts , agonising sound and Dani fucking Filth as the voice of Dominator himself. It's like someone explained the violence and sex charges madness of 2000Ad but was snorting so much coke they forgot any of the subtext. I'm exhausted after finally watching this and I'm not sure what happened. I'm gonna saw my own hand off with a Cradle of Filth interactive cd rom and bleed a petagram all over an old Amiga A500.

[benpaddon]

I grew up surrounded by them. Which was relatively easy given I was born in 1986.

The first computer I remember us having in the house was an Amiga 500. I loved that thing. Interestingly, my dad didn't get the Cartoon Capers bundle, but we did end up with pretty much every game in that collection one way or another.

My earliest childhood memories are of playing Batman: The Movie, Lemmings, and the godawful ThunderCats game, but my fondest were of watching my cousin Andy play The Secret of Monkey Island. I've written about it in detail before, but I basically learned to read so I could play that game. I adored it. I still do. Monkey Island is my Star Wars. It helped shape who I am.

Later we ended up with two A2000s, a CD32, and an A1200. I once found an old tape-based computer system in the attic, but it wasn't a Commodore 64 and I can't for the life of me remember what it was. Only that it came in a blue box. I think it might've had rainbow stripes on it somewhere.

I still had my family's A1200 right up until 2007 when I moved from the UK to Los Angeles, but I ended up buying one when I started making PortsCenter. I also have an A500 Mini, and I emulate the Amiga a lot. I love the Super Nintendo, but the Amiga was very much my system growing up. Nothing can compete.

How did you get into vintage computing as a hobby?

I've told my perspective before on how this became my hobby of choice, but I want to hear from YOU. What lead you to vintage computing?

[huthaifa-syr-blog]

Downloads for : Acer Iconia Tab A500 Download GApps, Roms, Kernels, Themes, Firmware and more. Free file hosting for all Android developers.

So this SuperiorOS ROM should be just as reliable as those. Snake OS V4.5 is an independent custom ROM for the Galaxy A50. I believe from what I have read that this is the developer’s first attempt at a custom ROM. It has many positive comments so there is no reason to worry too much. They are all stable and offer a seamless experience. Also, these ROMs support customizations, and they are…

[northstaffstv]

Police stop more than 100 irresponsible drivers as part of targeted operation

Staffordshire Police have stopped more than 100 drivers in a five-day period following a road safety operation in Staffordshire. Officers from our Roads Policing Unit (RPU) have been completing a series of targeted patrols around the county as part of Operation Tramline. The initiative is supported by colleagues from National Highways and saw officers record a total of 116 driving offences on the A34, A38, A50, A500 and A449. Most commonly, we found 37 motorists who were not wearing a seatbelt and also caught a staggering 27 people on their mobile phones whilst behind the wheel – including a man who was driving a 40-tonne HGV. We also tested a number of motorists for drink and drug driving at the roadside, resulting in one man being arrested after he tested positive for cannabis and a further four arrested after a stolen car was stopped in Stoke-on-Trent. A number of other offences were also reported on the operation, including: - Four drivers caught running red lights - Two drivers caught speeding - Four drivers without MOT and insurance - Eleven insecure loads - Three cars displaying illegal number plates Officers also issued 23 interventions whilst on Op Tramline to road users who were falling short of the expected standards. PC Sambrook, who was part of the operation, said: “Officers and local partners in Staffordshire are committed to championing road safety and ensuring we continue to minimise the opportunity for people to be killed or seriously injured as a result of negligence on our roads. “Operation Tramline is one of the many ways we work alongside National Highways and other agencies to proactively police our roads and make sure motorists uphold the standards expected of them.” The operation sees officers driving around in an unmarked HGV cab, owned by National Highways, who spot road traffic offences in real time. These offences are then radioed to police who then pull-over the suspect drivers and deal with the offences. It also follows the National Police Chief Council’s roads policing strategy for 2022 to 2025 which is designed to influence public behaviour to improve road safety and to stop those committing criminal offences on our roads. RPU Inspector Mark Joynson said: “We’ve seen first-hand the devastating effects that road traffic offences can have as well as the disruption that can be caused to emergency services if roads are disrupted or blocked by negligent drivers. “In some cases, offenders do not admit or recognise their negligence, particularly if they have developed bad habits over time such as travelling above the speed limit or not indicating at junctions.” “It’s one of the many reasons why it’s so vital that we continue to educate drivers on the importance of road traffic safety and take appropriate enforcement action where necessary.  National Highways Assistant Regional Safety Coordinator, Marie Biddulph, said: “We provide these unmarked HGV cabs to our police partners to help spot unsafe driving behaviour. It isn’t about catching people out, it’s about stopping drivers putting themselves and others at risk. “A good day for us would be a day where no incidents of unsafe driving were recorded - we want people to be safe on our roads. “From the elevated position in our HGV cabs, police can identify that small minority of people who continue to drive unsafely. We hope the realisation of this fact will make all motorists consider their driving behaviour.” To read more on the #PhoneFree campaign which launched recently, visit: #PhoneFree | Staffordshire Police To find out more about National Highways and what you can do to stay safe on the motorway, visit: https://highwaysengland.co.uk/road-safety/driving-on-motorways/ Read the full article

[my-timing-is-digital]

Your assessment is erroneous... As was his confidence in Picard's judgement. Admittedly, the android was marginally disillusioned, confounded. Dahj had demonstrated her post-human prowess in combat, which should have been sufficient evidence to substantiate her synthetic properties. And yet, the data the EMH and he had accumulated indicated that she was unequivocally human. But how?

The rapid fire of ripostes that ensued surpassed the android's comprehension; he did not stoop so low as to engage in what humans would consider squabbling — he had different priorities than his companions, who attempted to vindicate their conjectures... Although his auditory sensors obtained the sonic information, it fastidiously filtered out the irrational exchange of words and stored it in the back of his consciousness — for later revision —, while he focused solely on the conundrum, of the mystery that was Dahj. His chartreuse eyes remained glued to her motionless features, recalling the workings of her facial muscles, the manner in which those had conducted themselves — if she was an android, then the twitches, the alterations that reflected her expansive array of mental conditions, far exceeded his, even at present. In fact, his expressions were mere emulations, selected because they would be appropriate in certain circumstances, in certain contexts, but they were never corroborated by any authentic emotions...

Perhaps it was sheer coincidence that she resembled his painting, he thought, perhaps Picard and he were just imagining things, seeing similitudes that were not there, because they both wanted it to be true for personal reasons...

Nevertheless, she had been altered, if not synthetically then, perhaps, genetically, although it was questionable the Federation had, after many decades, centuries, of prohibiting, discouraging the practice of genetic engineering, suddenly authorised these undertakings, while decommissioning synthetics and limiting advancements in robotics. It did not make sense, on that, Data and the EMH's arguments were congruent. There had to be another valid reason that could accurately explain what technology was at play here, but unfortunately, this technology appeared to be situated beyond their boundaries of comprehension. They required the assistance of someone who might be capable of shedding additional light on Dahj's nature...

The android was moderately cognisant of the others' musings until his positronic brain intercepted the word "specialist." His previous absent-mindedness was promptly terminated; there were several humanoids who could aid them to establish a coherent explanation regarding Dahj's classification. Unfortunately, the majority could not be brought into the fold without others raising too many questions about their unannounced disappearance... They had to acquire the help of someone who had already sought shelter, was already scurrying under the radar...

'Bruce Maddox,' Data eventually proposed, the name of the man who had permitted the mass production of the A500 synths, rolled unpleasantly over his synthetic tongue. All veneration — or perhaps veneration was too strong a word — the android had once harboured for the man's research and endeavours had been completely demolished, eradicated, and in all fairness, he was not looking forward to a reunion, but this was not about him, this was about Dahj.

His interjection garnered the attention of both the Captain and the EMH, Picard seemed nonplussed by this suggestion, the EMH was not, his expression was calculating, tranquil, while he contemplated the probability of extracting information from Maddox that they were not already familiar with. Both remained silent.

'Bruce Maddox,' the android reiterated, a rancorous undertone scorched the utterance of the name, superficially — the inflection had been inadvertent but once enunciated, was no longer retractable. 'He is a cyberneticist, perhaps he could explain why Dahj's records show up 100% organic — human —, while her mathematically coordinated behaviour contradicts this...' he hesitated for a moment, averting his gaze to reorganise his thought processes prior to continuing: 'We have tried to track Maddox down, on multiple occasions... Unfortunately, he is familiar with androids, he is familiar with me — thus far, we have been... unsuccessful in our attempts to locate and retrieve him...'

This announcement noticeably perturbed the Captain; his aged features contorted with genuine trepidation, anxiety.

'Why?' he asked tentatively, a certain amount of urgency propelled his enquiry forward, but Data was positive that Picard could already infer the reason that resided behind this specific enterprise.

'He has a lot to answer for, Captain.'

'What does that mean? What are you planning to do with him? Data, do you blame him for what transpired on Mars?'

'We just wish to have a chat with him, sir, that is all — nothing permanent or irreversible shall arise from this meeting, I promise.'

'I promise,' Picard repeated incredulously. 'I, not we.'

'We are not the Borg, sir, we are individuals, hence why I can only make a singular promise.'

'And what about Lore...'

'My brother is not as forgiving as I am, but time will tell.'

'You can't just go around letting your brother assassinate people, humans!'

'With all due respect, Captain, but that is what people have been doing to us these last couple of decades,' he said placidly — his words were not spoken in an accusatory fashion, but they sounded cool and factual.

'Do you think Maddox's responsible for the synths' collective malfunction?' he eventually asked, softly. In that moment, the Captain looked frail, fatigued, and clearly, the android's indifferent responses had disillusioned him, startled him — if he had delineated them as potential allies prior to this revelation, he might now regard them as a rising threat.

'I cannot disclose that, sir.'

The evasion of distributing a concise answer, instead of a plain and simple negation was all Picard needed to draw his own conclusions, and it promptly, almost comically, altered his expression.

'So, you do know something! Of course you do! The Data I knew wouldn't just accept such accidents as mere deviations or defects in programming, he would've analysed it diligently, would've run myriad computations, looked at it from multitudinous angles, would've contemplated the many causes that could possibly have precipitated the malfunction. He would've found the source of the discrepancies and would endeavour to rectify the ramifications to vindicate the people involved.'

Data regarded his former Captain, remaining silent for a prolonged period of time, the elongated intermission of silence confirmed the Captain's deduction, judging by Picard's euphoric expression.

'We have leads,' he eventually divulged. 'Most of it can be corroborated with the evidence we have secured on our... voyages. Captain, since you are human, perhaps you could help us find Bruce Maddox.'

Picard muttered unintelligibly, but the tone of voice signified his unwillingness to cooperate.

'Sir, if you do not want to do it for me, then, do it for Dahj...'

'Alright,' his former Captain eventually sighed, a tincture of defeat coruscating in his familiar eyes.

'Thank you.'

The EMH was, in turns, deeply grateful to be aboard such an ecclectic ship and a bit dismayed by it. His sparkling personality was truly lost on most of the crew, Data inclusive. In truth, he knew Picard on sight--it was rather difficult not to, all things considered--but he nodded along at Data's gushing. (Gushing being relative, of course, but he knew what pride looked like on the especially stoic.)

Normally, Data's assessments of the situation were truly top notch. He was direct, to the point, and didn't waste a single iota of anyone's time dithering about. The Doctor really, truly appreciated that about him, even if his dry witicisms often sailed over their de-facto Captain's head. The scanner completed its work as Data stepped away and retrieved a console but, extraordinarily, the results of the scan conflicted with Data's assessment.

"Hm. That's going to be a challenge," The EMH replied and leaned to one side to engage the halo on the biobed. It closed over the girl and commenced with another scan.

"What? Why?" Picard asked after a beat, his brow already dipping with concern. Had she truly injured herself? Had she crashed terribly-- "Well, the first problem is: she's not an android," the hologram informed them both. "She is," Picard instantly assured him, his surprise evident. "Isn't." "I can assure you--" "I'm sorry," the hologram snapped and glowered, clearly offended at being so blatantly disagreed with. He promptly held out the handscanner and Picard could do little but take it from him. Waspishly the hologram added: "I wasn't aware you'd gotten your MD. Did you pick it up as a retirement hobby? Ambitious of you." "Pardon me?" Picard was finding he didn't care for this EMH. Then again, he'd never really been very fond of any of them. They were efficient and invaluable, but he much preferred human doctors. He cast aside his affront as the Doctor moved around the biobed. Dahj was bathed in the greenish light of the Romulan scanner and they watched in real-time while it did its work. As the computer imaged her, a holographic representation formed above her, slice by slice. As it compiled, the Doctor reached up to the hologram and pulled it apart into vertical layers--each one displayed an organic system in impressive detail.

"As I was saying," the EMH continued as the biobed halo concluded its deep scans. He gestured to the display and looked from Picard to Data. "That's a genuine, red blooded, dyed in the wool, human woman."

"That's not possible," Picard disagreed as he read through the handheld's results, confusion clear on his face. Every reading on the screen disagreed with him, as did every reading on the biobed's display. Romulans might not be the most advanced when it came to medical technology, but there were precious few species with more developed scanning capabilities. "These readings aren't right," Picard tried to explain and the Doctor huffed a sigh. "Are you implying that, on a ship of exclusively synthetic organisms, we just let the scanners break?" the EMH asked, his tone shifted to employ as much patience as he was capable of. He was cantankerous, certainly, but even he could muster some traditional professionalism when necessary. "Your assessment is erroneous," Data interjected and that, at least, seemed to have some weight. The Doctor gave him a curious but longsuffering look and interacted with the holographic representation of Dahj again.

"Shocking, I know," he began. "but she hasn't got anything that would indicate she's an android--she has no identifiable implants of any kind, no nanoprobes, no ports, no power supply, she's pristine. She hasn't so much as broken a bone in her life. She's hale and whole--except for some surface dermal abbrasion and a cut beneath her hairline, neither of which are mortal concerns." "I don't understand," Picard admitted, absolutely baffled, and set the handheld aside on the bed. "I've seen this girl leap ten meters, watched her disarm and disable ten Zhat Vash assassins. She can move faster than I can see--?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe she does taekwondo?" The EMH stepped back and made space for Picard to circle the bed. He did, as the space opened, and immediately began tabbing through the biobed halo. Every reading was normal, even nominal--the technology couldn't be faulty, and there was no way a Romulan military grade scanner was simply wrong, so how was she doing it? Picard looked to Data as though he might have an answer.

"Could she be giving off false readings? A falsifying RFID, perhaps to allow her to appear human on scans? Is that possible?" Picard asked and, despite not being the one to whom the question was addressed, the Doctor answered.

"There's a good, old-fashioned test for that, as well," the EMH said and retrieved a hypo from a nearby rack. The tool had a fine layer of dust that he shook off as he returned to the bedside. Then, as casual as you please, he pressed it up against the line of Dahj's neck, just along her juggular. The tool hissed and the vial filled with blood, or a liquid functionally indistinguishable from it. Picard stared, flummoxed, and a creeping doubt tried to gain foothold in his mind. He quashed it--Dahj was clearly synthetic. It was simply a question of how. "If you want a second opinion, I'm sure Soteria or a dozen of the AI floating around the computer would be happy to analyze this sample," the Doctor said once the vial was half-full. He pulled it away from Dahj's neck and ejected the vial from the device. Picard watched it but, even without a scanner, he recognized it--the viscocity, the film it left, the way it moved in the container, it was blood.

"Remarkable," Picard muttered and glanced at Data's console, across the bed from him. "Can you connect to her?" Surely on a ship with so many synthetic beings of such different makes and models--

"While I'm happy to entertain this hypothetical," the EMH interrupted again, this time with some concern. He had intended to go place the sample in the scanner but the shift of conversation stopped him mid-step. "I should point out that she has nothing even remotely like an access panel. I'm all for testing, but I must put my foot down before someone suggests surgical intervention." "What? Of course not!" Picard replied, aghast and the EMH was taken aback by the force of his refusal. Despite the sharpness in Picard's tone, the EMH seemed to wholeheartedly approve of the iron-clad rebuke. "I am, however, quite satisfied with your "assistance." If you don't intend to to be helpful, kindly remain quiet." The EMH's brows rose approvingly. He looked Picard over briefly and clucked his tongue again. His estimation of Picard seemed higher for being yelled at, as absurd as that was. "Now, now, Helpful is my middle name," the EMH countered but this time, with considerably more politesse. He looked to Data, his argumentative streak set aside, and searched for confirmation. "You're both positive, then, that she's somehow synthetic?" "We are," Picard confirmed with as much firmness and authority as he had available. The Doctor folded his arms and tapped the sample vial idly against his opposing forearm. He was (blessedly) silent for a span, his expression thoughtful. He was still in a way that spoke volumes about the sheer amount of information he was parsing through. Picard might not have liked EMHs, but he couldn't deny that they were a formidable database. "If I was an android…and was hellbent on passing as a human," the Doctor muttered and his head bobbed just slightly back and forth. It was a human mannerism he'd clearly adopted and it was uncannily convincing. "Hmm….Ah! I've got it." "You do?" "Well, no, not exactly, but I think there are a few arcane techniques we could employ here that will confirm your impossible hypothesis," the EMH replied and glanced up at the ceiling. "Soteria, my dear, I don't suppose we have the materials on hand for a magnetic resonance scanner?" Before the computer could answer the Doctor huffed. "Of course we don't--we might as well keep an iron maiden onboard, we'd get just as much use out of it. How about…heavy electromagnetic dampening? Hm? I don't suppose we're equipped for that but, given how Romulans feel about technology, if any ship would have something--" "Will that harm her?" "Hm?" The hologram seemed surprised by the question. "No, it's harmless to humans--ah, right. Fair point." Unfortunately, after ceding that, his frown deepened. After a moment, he looked to Data and, somewhat apologetically, admitted: "This may exceed the limits of my vast medical library. Unless they've suddenly repealed the Shenzhen Conventions and the Geneva Protocols, I have no idea how you would hide an android inside a human." He sighed. "We may require a specialist."

[race-week]

What do the letters in each F1 cars Name mean?

Mercedes:

W (e.g. W12) - for the German word Wagen, meaning car or carriage

Red Bull:

RB (RB16) - for Red Bull, pretty self explanatory

Ferrari:

SF (SF21) - Scuderia Ferrari, scuderia means stable but the horse/car variety not the state of stability

McLaren:

MCL (MCL35) - the first three letters of McLaren, it used to be MP4 which was McLaren Project 4 (back in the Ron Dennis era)

Alpine:

A5 (A521) - reference to the Renault-Alpine prototype the A500

Alpha Tauri:

AT (AT02) - like Red Bull it’s the abbreviation, followed by what iteration the car is

Aston Martin:

AMR (AMR21) - Aston Martin Racing, number references the year

Williams:

FW (FW43) - Frank Williams, the FW was first used in 1973 and the number is the iteration

Alfa Romeo/Sauber:

C (C41) - The C stands for Peter Sauber’s wife Christiane and is a trademark for Sauber race cars

Haas:

VF (VF21) - named after a CNC mill, which was called the VF-1, which stood for Very First 1. I wish I was joking

[maverickuk]

SWAG Workbench 2022 provides a platform to showcase what is new, old or just interesting in the modern Amiga scene. These meet-ups are organised by the South West Amiga Group (SWAG) in the South West of England who do a great job of putting together a packed day of talks against a backdrop of community mingling and various shopping opportunities.

One of the Amiga's talents back in the day was its use in professional video production through the Video Toaster and software such as Lightwave 3D. Exactly this combination of hardware and software are used by The Amiga Show to produce documentaries about the Amiga, by using actual Amiga hardware and software.

I learnt that the Video Toaster stores video in an analogue form, just like the laserdisc format. This enables the Amiga to work very quickly with the data, as it doesn't have the digital processing overhead.

We also had guests from Koch Media & Retro Games Limited to talk through the production of the A500 Mini, the plug'n'plug modern Amiga device.

It was interesting to hear the CTO Chris Smith talk about how he's the person who has undertaken all the technical work to create the software for the device. All the hardware design and construction takes place in Taiwan, with Chris and other collaborating on the process.

They also discussed the difficulties and costs of licencing, which is why there aren't any LucasArt owned games (e.g. Monkey Island).

The Sensible Software catalogue almost made it to the device, however when EA bought out Codemasters that unfortunately killed the deal.

Some of the Amiga Addict magazine team were present and spoke about their adventures in getting a UK based modern Amiga magazine published. Although there are several non-UK Amiga magazines in publication, the team felt there was room an Amiga mag with more British sensibilities.

It's easy to assume when such a glossy magazine is produced that it's an effortless process behind the scenes. However we learnt about all the spreadsheets and last minute tweaks to get everything together to hit the presses on time. Then the hands on effort required to stuff each envelope for each and every subscriber.

After 12 issues they've been able to get the magazine on sale in WHSmith stores, which is a impressive and heart warming achievement.

There's so much more I could write about the day, but instead I'll leave with a few more photographs and invite anyone in the area with an interest in Amigas (or just retro tech) to consider attending the next meet up.

[cacheblog920]

Amiga Hdf Games

WHDLoad is a way to run Amiga games from hard disk, even for games that did not originally support HD installation. Thanks to the fantastic work of the WHDLoad team, we can run those games, both on real Amigas and emulators, quickly and easily. Features downloads of all Team17 games in ADF or IPF format. Some CD32 ISOs are available as well. The site also includes Team17 related goodies such as game MP3s, wallpapers, fan art and a.

Accueil>Amiga >Commodore Amiga - Hardfiles - HDF (0.01)

Choisissez votre affichage :

Nom Taille

Agony (1992)(Psygnosis) Alien Breed 3D (1995)(Team 17)(AGA) Bloodnet - A Cyberpunk Gothic (1994)(Microprose)(AGA) Breathless (1995)(Fields Of Vision)(AGA) Burntime (1993)(Max Design)(AGA) Cannon Fodder (1993)(Sensible) Civilization (1992)(Microprose)(AGA) Colonization (1995)(Microprose) Darkseed (1992)(Cyberdreams) Dune 2 - The Battle For Arrakis (1993)(Virgin) Dungeon Master II (1994)(Interplay)(AGA) Flashback (1992)(Delphine) Flight Of The Amazon Queen (1995)(Interactive Binary Asylum) Frontier (1993)(Gametek) Hare Raising Havoc (19xx)(Disney) Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis (1992)(LucusArts) King's Quest VI (1994)(Sierra) Lemmings 2 - The Tribes (1993)(Psygnosis) Lost Vikings, The (1993)(Interplay) Mean Arenas (1993)(ICE) Patrician, The (1992)(Ascon) PGA Tour Golf (1991)(Electronic Arts) Reunion (1993)(Grandslam)(AGA) Rise Of The Robots (1993)(Mirage)(AGA) Secret Of Monkey Island 2, The - Le Chuck's Revenge (1991)(LucusArts) Secret Of Monkey Island, The (1990)(LucusArts) Settlers, The (1993)(Blue Byte) Simon The Sorceror (1994)(Adventure Soft) Star Crusader (19xx)(Gamtek)(AGA) Star Trek 25th Anniversary (1992)(Interplay)(AGA) Syndicate (1993)(Bullfrog) Valhalla And The Lord Of Infinity - Plus Both Sequels (1994)(Vulcan) Waxworks (1992)(Accolade) Workbench V3.0 (1992)(Commodore)

I’m trying to get running an Amiga again, to see if I can remember what was rocking my computer world twenty years ago. I want to run that code, swim with the Fish disks, and generally muck about with what was my life back then.

Amiga Hdf Games Online

Emulation is interesting. Variants of UAE (which came with an Amiga Forever CD set I bought in 1997 or so) rule the roost. Quality is variable – on Windows, WinUAE is very comprehensive, even making grink-gronk noises as the floppy spins. On Mac, E-UAE is really not worth the bother kinda okay – it doesn’t want to emulate anything above a 68000, and falls over quite often but has decent sound. On Linux, it’s plain and stable, and I happen to have an old Thinkpad going spare I can dedicate to emulation.

I would have expected all the old disk images to be readily available for download. It seems that the current owners of the Amiga name (this week, at least) still cling on to the old IP as if it has real value. The Amiga games market (which was the market) basically collapsed with Commodore in 1994. I really wonder who is buying the PowerPC based, vastly overpriced new hardware? For now, I’m relying on good old-fashioned torrent sites for my data.

I want to emulate two machines; the A500 I had for all my cringe-worthy magazine writing running Workbench 1.3, and a fast thing maxed out with all the processors and RAM I never had, probably running 3.1. While I did have Amiga(D)os 2.04 (can’t remember if they’d dropped the D by then), it wasn’t the main focus of my interest by then.

The biggest problem I have is getting hard disk image, even blank ones. UAE is picky. Here are a couple I formatted under WinUAE, both blank.

Amiga Hdf Games Free

I wonder if they’ll work under 1.3?

Amiga Hdf Games On

Update: yes, they should. I formatted them FFS under AmigaDos 1.3.

[benpaddon]

We had an A2000 when I was a kid! Actually we had two - the first one was a replacement for my Dad's A500, which was itself replaced with an A1200. Later, I was given an A2000 by a family friend, but the video output was knackered and it only put out video in black and white for some reason.

I ended up with my Dad's A1200 after he moved to the US in 1997, and it lasted until 2002 - my final GCSE year. I wrote a lot of essays on that thing. I don't recall what happened to the A2000.

We also ended up with two CD32s at various points. Awful little console, but it had a couple of good games (or at least, good games that weren't just repackaged releases of Amiga games).

Do you have a favorite vintage computer?

i'm a huge lover of any computer that stacks its monitor on top of the case, it feels so compact and looks neat. especially models like ibm 5170, apple iie, and amiga 2000 :] i don't know if i could pick one favorite but these are certainly my top favs <3

[my-timing-is-digital]

Pavel’s words of reassurance did not put his perturbed mind at ease, not in the slightest. The fact that someone had pursued him to the extent that he had noticed it, could imply that the person in question either was not a professional, or they had been following Chekov for a considerable length of time, which had ultimately resulted in him discerning them among the abstract faces of the strangers in the crowd. If they had recognised Pavel, they had probably extrapolated the possibility that he was skulking in the shadows as well... Paranoia was not part of his original programming, but he had caught himself ruminating excessively about the myriads of prospects that could transpire should someone acquire their current location.

    Data opted for silence; fear was contagious among humanoids, even if it was instigated by an android. An android who could not curb his scepticism and eradicate his insecurities. The emotion chip was inactive, but he periodically experienced phantom emotions, as if the chip had stamped an imprint on his neural matrix that reminded him of what emotions would have been generated should the program have been operative. Or perhaps it was his preservation subroutine, to protect his own existence... He took a deep inhalation, like he had often observed in humans when they attempted to regain their composure. However, it was debatable if it had a similar effect on him...

    A hum of acknowledgement proceeded Chekov’s words of certitude, but the paranoia was still persistently gnawing at the back of his mind, intoxicating his judgement and poise. He had to remain steadfast; the perpetuation of his people was in his hands. He was the voice of the thousands of synthetic lifeforms that had already been terminated and disassembled. He could make a difference for all of them. Therefore, it was imperative that he found substantial proof that the Federation was wrong; the collective malfunction in the A500 androids was not due to a programming error, but another factor, an external factor. He knew there was a different reason for their malfunction. There had to be. And the Federation could attempt to impede his progress by sending assault teams after him, but he would not be coerced into obedience and standing idly by while his species went extinct. Truth will out.

    His companion’s boyish voice yanked him back to the present. The lead. An infinitesimal hint that might point them in the right direction.

    ‘I concur. Frequent alterations of attire could add a significant percentage to our chance of survival and success,’ Data agreed, approaching the young man and canting his head as he presented the ensemble of clothes.

   At Pavel’s request to not enquire after the garments’ history, the android’s yellow eyes promptly snapped upward and burrowed into his. He perceived his own hesitancy — or was it reluctance? — to take the folded clothes. Had they been confiscated without the rightful owner’s consent or awareness? That was theft. His ethical and moral subroutines occasionally interfered with this enterprise, but without them, he would have treaded in his brother’s footsteps...

   ‘Thank you, Pavel,’ he said, extending his hands to welcome his new outfit. ‘These look inconspicuous. An adequate disguise.’

@my-timing-is-digital, x.

An abandoned, dilapidated building on the outskirts of a Federation colony had been his temporary residence — hideout would be a more appropriate epithet to ascribe to this former domicile — for less than a week. The partially disintegrated walls were permanently damp, and draughts wailed lugubriously and at irregular intervals. The sonic phenomenon was, regrettably, an accurate rendition of his present disposition, but to him this was a consolidation rather than an undesirable disturbance; despite his ineptitude to express the state of his emotion, it fascinated him that an element, such as air, could articulate it immaculately. He had deliberately opted to deactivate the chip indefinitely, for he had anticipated the possibility that a frenzy of unquenchable rage could corrupt every last particle of his programming if it remained operative, and thus would provide the Federation with a legitimate reason to apprehend, decommission, and dismantle him should a subsequent conflict lead to casualties. His error would be the pinnacle of their evidence against all synthetic lifeforms; it would corroborate the falsifications the Federation had been spewing at everyone who cared to listen, that androids are compromised and dangerous. Fortunately for him, not everyone believed this preposterous malarkey.

    Someone has been stalking me. The words enunciated by his young associate lacerated through the silence that had engulfed him for over two hours. His ponderous frown levelled out as he turned to face the boy; a youthful countenance staring back at an ageless one. Pavel Chekov was a promising Starfleet officer who had discontinued his career to become a benefactor for a fugitive android who was in desperate need of assistance. Admittedly, Data had increased his vigilance the first three days they spent together, but over the course of 7 weeks, his mental pathways had grown accustomed to Pavel’s sensory input patterns — much quicker than he had initially anticipated. He was fond of the boy, and if they had met under different circumstances he would have gladly introduced him to his old friends and invited him to attend one of Riker’s renowned poker nights. Perhaps some day, in the distant future...

    ‘Ah, I see. Did you manage to shake them off?’ he enquired placidly.

    Chekov’s active affiliation with an individual the Federation deemed highly volatile and extremely dangerous had automatically turned him into a menace to society as well. Perhaps one of the locals, or one of the law enforcers had recognised his face from the news flashes that frequently littered the many screens in people’s abodes, and consequently decided to pursue him to locate the android’s sanctuary.

    ‘Did you procure the supplies you required?’ Data asked curiously; although he could go months without nourishments, which came in the form of his bio-lubricants, Pavel could not.

One fleeting glance at Pavel might be enough for someone to think that he's made a foolish decision or he has been corrupted and led on by these dangerous synthetics, for he is too young to really appreciate the ramifications of his actions. At only nineteen years old, already two years out of the academy and with such a bright future blazing on the horizon, how could he possibly understand that he had thrown this all away to become a person of interest—a radical—just as dangerous to the population as the people he was advocating for?

Before the academy, he'd carved a road of numerous successes and academic achievements. Genius, they'd called him, accepted at fifteen, a full officer by seventeen.

A long, scrutinising look at Pavel would reveal near-unrivalled intelligence burning behind the green of his eyes and a determination to match. It would reveal a man who understood exactly what he was doing, who sat and thought extensively about it and chose this path nevertheless.

He had no regrets. Not even when it meant that moving around could have him snapped up by the authorities and questioned—or worse—for information at any second, or all his security clearances were revoked, or even that the place they were calling home smelled of mildew, rot, and stale water.

Pavel busies himself with unpacking the bag he'd stuffed to capacity and laying everything out in what might have once been a nice kitchen if the elements hadn't gotten to it. He doesn't even attempt to bite back his scoff, throwing an incredulous look Data's way as he replies, "You cannot really believe I would let them follow me back here. I made sure to lose them in a crowd before coming back."

He always has been good at slipping away.

He purses his lips, thinking of the unsettling knifepoints of an unknown gaze he can still feel burying themselves in his shoulderblades.

"I did. There's no working replicator here, but these things will last for a while without going bad. This also made me think. Disguising ourselves while we're moving around here may not be a bad idea. If we are going to keep investigating this lead, it will help us. So I got these, too."

He pulls out a few sets of tightly folded clothes and hands one over to Data, a set of dark slacks and a shirt with a rather interesting pattern on it. "Don't ask where I got them, but these should fit you."

[dry-valleys]

The northwest view is still a picturesque delight, with its hillsides and valleys, the green fields, and high hedgerows of Staffordshire. Strangers and pilgrims who have left the district, now and then silently stray to an elevation to have a refreshing glance at this scenery before they again return to their distant homes and lands, and leave behind them a farewell sigh for that " which once hath been." William Scarratt, 1906.

Rising from the hectic Chatterley Valley to Bradwell Woods, which as far as I can see have never been built on (the fine carpet of bluebells we’re looking forward to indicates ancient woodland).

(January 2021 and (7) May 2018, (9) November 2017).

The valley is cut through by the Trent and Mersey Canal, designed by James Brindley, the first sod of which was cut nearby by Josiah Wedgwood, to carry Potteries wares to Liverpool and the sea. The canal was finished in 1777 and a remote corner of rural Staffordshire with poor soils and worse transport suddenly became an industrial behemoth, a process about which may local authors wrote.

They were joined by the railway in 1848 (now Grade II listed, Longport station is still in use and I often ride it when I travel between volunteering at Westport Lake and my day job, in Crewe).

Many of the factories Wedgwood and Brindley knew, expanded by Scarratt’s day, are now gone, but (4) H & R Johnson (founded in 1901 and in this area since 1968) remains.

Industrial history is remembered by the Golden Statue, built in Nottingham to a design by Wolfgang Buttress and here since 2015, remembering the business of the valley.

In 1903, Charles Shaw rued that "This lovely, peaceful, and fruitful valley is now choked with smoke and disfigured by mining and smelting refuse." and one can still see his point, but the woods are still proudly untouched.

Although the railway he complained about is still there, joined by the A500 road (started in 1962 and not fully finished in 2006- I remember the traffic jams caused by the last bout of work in ‘06), and littering has become an issue, it's still the case that in the woods this area has regained a lot of what Shaw recalled from his childhood in the 1830s and one can breathe again.

[wildishmazz]

Picard 01.03

It’s the same as the beginning of the end… do you follow?

Ooh, he’s doing his own narration. And now, the conclusion. Making the synths destroy themselves after commandeering them, even though they’re on a planet that’s about to be consumed by fire, does seem like the work of either a sadist(Lore) or someone who hates them so very much that they have an emotional investment in how they are destroyed, and want to be symbolic about it even though there’s no-one left alive to witness the symbolism. Beautifully characteristic cabbageheading. Why would the Romulans attack a fleet built expressly to rescue them? The question we’ve all been asking, and many people have answered. A500? That’s your problem, right there. Disney have been using A1000s since 2019. And they called your bluff, because they’re not Starfleet any more so they don’t give a shit about their flagship admiral resigning. No, begging civilians for help is your last, desperate move. Dunkirk, my dude. They’re literally calling them the Vasquez Rocks! Not pretending they’re anywhere else! She looks a lot younger with her hair down. Not in those exact words, but yes. Again, though, Old Starfleet says “goddamn”, not “fucking”. In other words, check your privilege, JL. “You are free now” doesn’t sound like something you say to someone who is still alive. More cabbageheading! “I find that if I ask people for help, they’re happy to give it.” “That has not been my experience.” aka how privilege works. You’re advocating religion? Truly sorry, now that you need something. Ooh, is Raffi autistic? Seeing things from a different angle? Would make sense that Picard would mentor her, of all people. “Commodore Oh. I just recently binge-watched The Matrix movies. Sunglasses are cool.” I think what she meant was, only the Romulan desassimilees have been kept alive? Ooh, triangles, like the device that held the painting. The transporter sounds the same! Ooh, I bet the whiny babies hate that this dude’s English too. If he’s got a cheerfully open and all-embracing libido, then Rios is basically another Okona. Dermal, captioner. Not thermal. Is that a tease to make us think that was the only EMH cameo? “That’s just my tragic backstory.” The resolution of that text is going to look SO dated in a few decades. AND another Irish accent for the whiny babies to hate! Who, who who??? Who was the grand, heroic captain? …was it Captain Nog? That, and it was his brother’s home, the brother who died for no good reason, offscreen. (Ad break) So it’s Romulan tarot? Good thing he’s got resident Tal Shiar. And guns taped to the undersides of tables. There’s always one more. Oh, that’s just fucking classic, that is. “Proving herself” by disposing of a totally unambiguous threat who was as good as dead anyway. You’re a terrible liar? Sure, I know that. But you want him to think that, for the opposite reason. And anyway, she already knows everything. He’s alive? Convenient. Mythology? Belief. Impressive tears there. He’s taking his instruction from Jurati. Checking with her for permission to speak, or stay silent. Apparently, she said speak. And die. See, whiny babies? They don’t randomly spit acid, they have a standard method of biting down on a pill to spit acid. The “mother” is fake, or corrupt. Soji, dearling, you do not know what you know. Or what you are, or how you get information zapped into your head. Oh, sure, change the topic. Ew, that’s your brother! Ew, that’s your sister! Are we going to address why Jurati’s even there? Are we going to claim that the goons followed her, not that they were her vanguard? Are you going to do this oddly specific thing that I shouldn’t even know about, which I know about because… uh… not because I’ve been in on surveilling you from the start, because… uh.. Our common antagonist(I’m totally not on her side) told me about it, because she’s been spyi- speculating about what you’ll do? Earth’s leading expert? So, what, you know for sure that Maddox is not on Earth? Because if you suspected he might be, you would defer to him. You would say “maybe Earth’s leading expert”. Welp, she might make good leverage at a later date. “Raffi, what is this? Is it my birthday?” Raffi, once again, seeing the truth and serving the tea. You’re just going to let Agnes here hitch a ride on your top secret mission? She knows there’s something wrong with this. “Once we get there, you’re on your own. Unless I change my mind again.” That was a very self-conscious, performative “Who are you, lady?” Feels a lot like you’re trying to reinforce the idea that you’re a wide-eyed innocent who knows nothing and certainly couldn’t be planning anything, no siree. He said the thing!!!