Articles by Steven

Posted Jun 30, 2014 by Steven in Writing 5 min read

Let me be honest. I had no clue what I was doing when I started May’s Camp NaNoWriMo. Sure, I knew I wanted to write a novel and had a general idea of what the story would be about. I had a rough outline of the plot and some guiding themes I wanted to encompass. Since I was writing a sci-fi novel, I wanted the world to feel real yet fantastic so I created a list of what I thought was possible and what I wanted to stay away from. But I really didn’t understand how to structure a novel. In many ways, I still don’t.

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# camp⁷  # nanowrimo⁸  # scrivener² 

Posted Jun 08, 2014 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 3 min read

Okay I haven’t finished my remake of Joust yet, nor did I want to wait until the last week of the month to get an article out. Instead, I offer you Monster Maker as June’s monthly program. It’s pretty straight forward and anti-climatic against the power of today’s programs. Once you load it, enter in five numbers and type your monster’s name. That’s it. The program will then display a nicely formatted monster description based on your input.

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# adventure⁷  # basic²⁸  # game⁵¹  # monster⁵  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # rpg⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted May 28, 2014 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 5 min read

I actually started working on May’s program of the month, Joust, about three weeks ago. My goal was to update the program to a faster and more fluid MCODER version. Sadly, things haven’t gone so well. Pressed for time, I will leave you instead with my original take on this popular arcade from the 80s.

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# animation²⁰  # arcade³  # game⁵¹  # graphic²⁰  # joust¹  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted May 07, 2014 by Steven in Writing 5 min read

As I noted in my ZX81 update, April was a different month for me. For some time, dating back to my time in college, I've wanted to write a book. About the most I'd ever done was create an outline and write a couple of scenes.

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# april¹  # book⁶  # camp⁷  # namowrimo²  # novel⁷  # writing⁵ 

Posted Apr 27, 2014 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 3 min read

April has been a crazy month. I decided to try something new, pushed along by an unexpected event. I’m writing a book. I joined NaNoWriMo just after last November's event so I didn't expect to do anything until later this year. The surprise was there CampNaNoWriMo event in April. Not to waste the opportunity, I’ve been busy crafting my Sci Fi novel and am now in the final stretch to my 50,000 words goal. Add on top of that a business trip and a family trip and you'll quickly see that my ZX81 hobby gets pushed by the wayside.

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# animation²⁰  # car⁶  # driving²  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # racing³  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Mar 29, 2014 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 4 min read

For March's program of the month, I drew inspiration from one of my older demo’s, The Ball. Like many young kids from the early eighties using BASIC, I took a stab at animating a bouncing ball. It is a a relatively easy program to write depending on how complex you want to make the math. In my case, it is very simple math, no physics involved here.

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# animation²⁰  # basic²⁸  # demo⁴  # graphic²⁰  # mcoder⁶  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Feb 16, 2014 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 4 min read

For February, I give you Time, a simple landing game with a twist. Using the Z and . keys, you maneuver your craft to each successive landing pad. If you miss the landing, keep trying but be careful. Run out of time and it’s game over! How high of a score can you amass? A fair warning, Time isn’t always fair.

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# 1985¹¹  # game⁵¹  # graphic²⁰  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Jan 05, 2014 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 5 min read

January’s program of the month, Fireball, marks a first for me. Although I’ve used a few different methods to type in my programs, I’ve always gone back to a Windows so I could use EightyOne to generate the program files and images. However, for my birthday, my wife took me to the Apple store and I upgraded my old laptop to a shiny new MacBook Pro.

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# 1984¹⁵  # eightyone²  # macbook²  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Dec 30, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 3 min read

Winter has set in and it is time to close out the year with a simple game. Dollar Sign, December’s program of the month, is that game.

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# basic²⁸  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Nov 30, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 7 min read

For November, I’m looking both forwards and backwards. Although I wrote SNUNCH in 1983, I added a corrected version to my first ZX81 web page in the ’90s. SNUNCH was my early attempt at writing a PAC-MAN like game. Note that I said like, not clone. My goal was to be inspired, not to copy. Sadly, it isn’t very good, even after I fixed some of its logic flaws. Despite its flaws, I still believed it had potential and I set about updating it using MCODER II. It is this improved SNUNCH ML version that I offer as November’s program of the month.

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# 1983⁹  # basic²⁸  # game⁵¹  # mcoder⁶  # monthly¹⁶¹  # pac-man³  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Oct 19, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 4 min read

Since it’s been a few months since I’ve presented an animation program, I hereby offer October’s program of the month Space Dock. Written when the space shuttle program was in full swing, Space Dock depicts a shuttle launch for its scheduled docking to repair a satellite.

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# graphic²⁰  # monthly¹⁶¹  # notebook³  # programming⁶⁷  # space¹⁰  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Oct 01, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 3 min read

I took a break from educating myself on z80 machine code, more on that later, to fix a few things that have bugged me about the site. They are minor and probably will go completely unnoticed by most, but I wanted to make a quick note for future reference. Hey that’s what blogs are for, right?

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# code⁷  # html¹⁰  # machine²  # perl¹⁴  # zx80¹  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Sep 30, 2013 by Steven in Mind the Gap 2 min read

I spent the last two days watching football and fixing up a few odds & ins around my sites. Probably the biggest change is the top menu. I’ve tried to match the style across each major site, including font and minor format changes. I also added my 360voice Dynamic Usersbars as a top-level site.

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# dynamic⁶  # geocities⁷  # internet²¹  # lego¹²⁹  # raytrace⁷  # userbar¹⁷  # xbox²¹ 

Posted Sep 21, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 3 min read

October’s program of the month is S.M.P. or Sinclair Memo Pad. A simple scrolling editor that allows you to take a couple of quick notes that last as long they are on-screen.

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# editor⁴  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Aug 29, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 2 min read

While searching for some code examples I ran across this inventive hardware expansion. Michel created a ZX81 Nixie Clock and has been kind enough to share his creation with the world through Facebook.

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# clock¹  # expansion¹  # facebook³  # geocities⁷  # hardware³  # nixie¹  # tube¹  # vacuum¹  # website¹²  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Aug 08, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 3 min read

Whoa, it’s August already? Time for another program of the month. Coming your way is Parachute, a deceptively simple reflex game that uses recognizable graphics to give you an enjoyable causal gaming diversion. I’ve been staring at this program for months now as it was sitting on the top of the stack. The airplane and parachute graphics stand out prominently in the listing, making it hard not to notice. As much as I tried to ignore it, Parachute was calling me to type it in. I finally caved and obliged.

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# 1985¹¹  # graphic²⁰  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Aug 08, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 1 min read

I wasn’t sure in my last post how to remove the extra space from the program listings. Well, I figured it out.

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# css¹³  # listing⁴  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Aug 04, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 2 min read

Awhile back I went searching for a decent ZX81 font and ran across ZX81 VDU. I played around adding it to my site’s footer, but I really wanted to do more with it. It’s pretty good and, unlike some other fonts I found, it has all the ZX81 graphic characters. You do have to carefully choose the font size, but that is minor issue. Overall a great font that is easy to use.

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# css¹³  # graphics⁸  # listing⁴  # program¹  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Jul 25, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 2 min read

I often search around the web looking to see what kind of ZX81 community still thrives. I truly expected to find a community in decline, but a surprising number of nostalgia sites are still out there. I found some dedicated to hardware, some to emulating, and others to software. Some are reference sites offering up tips and how to do things. Others simply have reviews of software from a different era. All of them interesting in their own way.

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# gaming⁵  # link¹  # retro¹¹⁷  # sharing²  # sites¹  # web⁹  # writing⁵  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Jul 21, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 4 min read

July is almost half over, but we still have time for our program of the month: Spiders & Flies. You play a growing Venus flytrap that is searching for flies and special bugs. Use the ZX81 arrow keys to move around: 5, 6, 7, and 8. But be careful. Don’t eat the spiders lurking about or accidentally eat yourself. It’s a super easy game so you have no excuse for not trying it out.

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# 1985¹¹  # monthly¹⁶¹  # programming⁶⁷  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted Jun 18, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 2 min read

Blast Off, June’s program of the month, is a simple game that tests your typing skills. You may find it a bit easier to play on an emulator than on a real ZX81. Fortunately, you can try now! It isn’t a very hard game if you are decent typist. It would also work well for those practicing their typing skills.

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# 1985¹¹  # monthly¹⁶¹  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted May 19, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 4 min read

Well it is getting late in the month and I didn’t want to pull another last-minute update. To make things a bit interesting, I used Zed Ex on my Android tablet to enter in this month’s entry. More on that in a bit. Let me first introduce our deliciously short entry for May: Up-Cake. A fast and simple scrolling game that is easy to play and hard to lose at. My kind of game!

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# 1985¹¹  # game⁵¹  # graphic²⁰  # monthly¹⁶¹  # zx81²⁰⁵ 

Posted May 15, 2013 by Steven in LEGO Renders 1 min read

LEGO’s May mini build was a Blue Jay. I thought he’d look better in a tree which I modeled in LDD. I rendered the scene with POV-Ray 3.7RC7.

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# ldd¹⁰  # lego¹²⁹  # monthly¹⁶¹  # povray⁶⁵  # render⁷⁷ 

Posted May 11, 2013 by Steven in Coding and Web Design 2 min read

I happened to load my sites into IE10 the other day and noticed the reflections were broken. Generally, I wouldn’t care much as I don’t use IE except at work. However, I thought it best that things not continue to look different. I updated reflection.js to the latest version. I also updated jquery.js as it was a bit outdated as well. So far things are looking better. I did notice my site was loading a bit slower though. I’m not sure if this is the new code or something else. I’ll keep watch and update you if something else is amiss.

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# chrome³  # css¹³  # explorer⁶  # hyphenator²  # javascript⁷  # reflection⁴  # typography³ 

Posted May 05, 2013 by Steven in ZX81 Computer 1 min read

I’m doing a little Spring cleaning and ran across a little problem with my RSS feed that I failed to notice before. In some programs, the article images didn’t display properly because I was using relative paths.

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# feed²  # feedburner⁴  # feedly¹  # google⁶  # rss⁶