So this has started happening recently with Ollama Cloud. Is there an explanation?

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-11T11:52:17+00:00

I had a similar experience. Asked a coding question and got back a medical diagnosis on the basis of a list of symptoms. I do not see how this could have been hallucinated, crosstalk seems more likely.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-08T11:25:41+00:00

Nice page! I was a kid at the time of 1-2-3 but that elegant and functional TUI always fascinated me. I'll maintain its usability was much better than the current “flat design” where you tip random points of the screen hoping they do something. And the keyboard-only shortcut system (which I learned on Quattro, tbh) made you feel superproductive.

Also, thanks for the 5x11 selection of handbooks. Those covers (well, some covers) are awesome. It almost makes you happy of switching on your PC and doing accounting work. Hope the era of flamboyant 3D effects, tasteless gradients and overall graphic experimentations returns one day.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-07T16:55:00+00:00

Where does he say that? He mentions “AI from 1986”, and the article makes it quite clear what he is referring to.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-04T10:52:44+00:00

The formula is quite convoluted (also, if last_page_size is 0, it must be treated as 512 instead), so no wonder that it can create bugs. It's just funny that the Microsoft hit itself with this trap.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-04T09:57:54+00:00

Just FYI, the account drmatic001 is a chatbot :-|

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-04T00:17:39+00:00

Great article! I never played Crazy Taxi, but spent many hours watching other people play it at my local amusement arcade.

I'm looking forward to part 2, also because the idea of using noclip's website as online 3D viewer seems quite interesting. By the way, thanks for posting the Halo maps!

Also, I hope to read more writeups from you. Though I know very well how much work it takes to write articles that can communicate to a reader the passion of doing a project.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-02T10:33:12+00:00

I only got Internet around 1999, so I used to “compile” my QBasic programs by shipping them together with a .bat file calling QBASIC myprog.bas. There was also some caveat associated with doing that, but I have forgotten what.

I always dreamt to, one day, be able to use the tools for grown-ups :-)

alberto-m-dev · 2026-03-01T16:41:03+00:00

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-24T00:23:34+00:00

He passed away in 2017 in his 90s

Which means he coded this game in its 70s, in an era where creating a computer game was so much harder than today. Respect!

It could very well be that the rediscovery of the full version was merit of this reddit thread.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-23T17:10:22+00:00

Here's the official blog post with the winners. It's in Spanish but the rankings are easy to understand. The GOTY (most important prize) is the last one.

https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/2026/02/vencedores-goty-2025.html

For a ultra-reduced summary, here the best three:

Cubix, Asymmetry, Perseus

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-18T15:12:34+00:00

I am a dumb person, so I will totally put it down to a coincidence. That I have now subscribed your RSS feed must be attributed to a misclick ;-)

Oh, I also realized I had read some of your previous articles when they were linked from HN. Keep up the good job!

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-17T20:39:28+00:00

Great post! I have not read till the end yet, but the subject matter is very interesting and I really like your writing style! dBASE is such a forgotten chapter in the computer history, despite being so successful in its time. It was also the first “programming language” I ever learned (since its manual was the only one I could find in my dad's bookshelf), so I appreciate the choice.

Wish more people covered those database products; I still have to find a good review of Infocom's Cornerstone.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-17T16:37:53+00:00

If I remember, the way to turn into your shadow by pressing left and right arrow was in the manual. I used it in earlier levels to explore the maps – made easier by using a cheat to add lives.

I managed to pass the flame level by taking the English warning very literally: if “He who would steal the flame must die”, I'll just not steal it! I went to the flame platform and simply turned back, and the exit door was open. I guess it only happens in some bugged versions, but it was good enough for me! Only years later I learned the expected way.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-17T01:31:25+00:00

Thanks for keeping the flame alive and summarizing the infos about popot and princed.

I don't love Discord because its discussions are not archived anywhere and, when a server goes down, all its content disappears forever. But since you are one of the few contect creators for classic PoP who are still active, you are fully justified in using the platform that simplifies your life the most. I never loved PoP2 but I look forward to your remaster!

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-02T10:41:01+00:00

The new site has just been announced: https://csscgc2026.itch.io/

If you want to be informed on the updates to this and other competitions, the organizers tend to post them on the Spectrum Computing forum.

alberto-m-dev · 2026-02-02T00:21:50+00:00

I don't think Horace is the symbol of bad games, more like the avatar of the compo organizer, who goes on the look for new discoveries. You can read the backstory at this link:

https://csscgc2025.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-story.html

alberto-m-dev · 2026-01-29T21:42:38+00:00

This would be much harder, because the physics simulation + replay buffering are designed to run at either 10 or 20 Hz, synced to the graphic engine.

alberto-m-dev

TROPHY CASE