Pilot's Log

What happened was that after I'd done some work converting the Armor suits, I noticed that I had skipped one of the later Technical Readout books that I have in my collection. So I got out some ledger paper sheets, jotted down the converted facts and figures on 56 here-to-fore "forgotten" 'Mechs, and was all set to bubble them into my Database files--

--Only to find that not only does Precious lack the program that the files were created using, but the only other program I have for database work, OpenOffice.org 3.2, doesn't recognize the .WDB format. "It's not a bug, it's a feature" say the Internet voices.

So you are saying, "Well, why doncha re-install the software you DID use before onto Precious?" and that point is quite logically valid. The problem is the "security" measures that Microsoft puts on their software to limit your right to profigate it among your hardware systems. Besides, I'm working with a new operating system anyway and the old software may not work.

The data files are not going anywhere, and I have them on backups, so this can wait till I acquire the new version, whenever that will be. In the meantime, I'm saving myself from entering in five or six pages of hard data. This is not procrastination--this is taking the time to do the job right.

FP

I've signed up with the website for Dassault Systemes and will soon download what I can of the 3DVIA family of software--what's available FREE of course. Of course, I'm completely out of my depth...but what else is new?

Turns out I'm not alone in wanting to do what I want to do with Earthsiege. No, I am NOT alone.

FWIW: My collection of old games...

* Air Warrior for DOS
* Apache (Longbow)
* B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty Eighth
* City of Heroes "bootleg edition"
* CyberGladiators
* Earthsiege2
* European Air War
* Fighter Ace 3.5
* Fighter Duel
* Freedom Force
* Freedom Force Versus The Third Reich
* Guild Wars trial CD, still in shrink wrap!
* Gunship!
* Shogo: MAD
* Starsiege Alpha Technical Release 2.1
* Su-27 Flanker
* Thexder for Windows95

So, one of the first things I learn about Win7 is that their version of Paint is quite different from the one in WinXP. So different that I don't so much like it yet. So I copied the XP version from King Kong's HD and installed it on Precious, as a sideman to the Win7 version, which I will learn to use little-by-little.

One thing I like to do is use IrfanView's capability to swap colors around on graphics. So I used Ctrl+Alt+PrtScrn to snatch the color pallets from both versions of Paint, stick them into a common file with a little clean up (using my favorite graphics program, LViewPro), and then subjected the Baseline pallets to the IrfanView color swap methods one by one (five in all). So that's what you see on yesterday's post.

I retrieved my license for the graphics program I use (LViewPro) and got it operational again. So now I can take photos, scan, and even create "2nd Player" versions of manga characters. Now I have to check to see whether I'll need new drivers for my scanner and camera...

It's been rare that both my mother's computer and my own run the same operating system. For a while we both had WinXP but then her hard drive crashed and got replaced with one with Win98 and it took till just recently to get beyond it.

When the Computer King boys tried to sell me on the idea of having Linux on Precious--when we had gone through so much trouble to get Mum's computer to have Windows 7, I was yea-close to going totally ballistic. So they put Win7 on mine...

And I check just a while ago. Mum has Win7 HOME on hers...I have Win7 PRO on mine! Just enough differences to make it an ordeal to work with.

I'm in for a long and tricky weekend.

Consequences of one spilled glass of iced tea...

Over the weekend Mum spilled a glass of iced tea on her twelve-year-old keyboard and killed half the membrane in it, so today we replaced the keyboard with a new one...

...Which her OS didn't recognize. So we upgraded her OS...

...Which made her computer forget the distinction of its own modem from a hole in the ground. And other sundry talents we find useful. So Mum's out of (online) circulation till we can sort this stuff out, and I accomplish the necessary troubleshooting.

My computer suffered an assault from the XP AntiSpyware 2010 virus overnight, and is disconnected so I can take it in for maintenance sometime this week. Using Mum's compy for the interim.

Hard to tell at this point. :/

Signed up for Bablegum.com this evening for no reason other than the simple fact that they had a favored episode of "Thugs On Film" in their stock. It took an hour to download and install their player, and another hour (and counting) to attempt downloading the video I want. Yes, I can blame dial-up but this system compounds the agony.

Just the same, an embed test is in order:


FP

So I Got One!

In other news, thanks to kiffie, I'm trying out Finale Notepad for my MIDI needs, and it's working out fine...so long as I set my screen to the right size. I've been replaying old MIDIs ripped from video games, and often when FN replays them they sound much better than they would in the original games. Chalk that to the march of technology, I imagine.

FP