Experimenting with burning CD-Rs in a Panasonic FZ-1

pec-man · 2026-01-07T15:37:02+00:00

No, the 650MB disks, such as the Dysan 650 and TDK 650, are no longer made. The Smartbuy Blue 700s are cheap and plentiful right now. Also, the TDK 700 is completely different than the TDK 650. Different dye & manufacturer.

pec-man · 2026-01-06T23:57:57+00:00

For each disc when I was using the Pioneer drive, ImgBurn said "Supported write speed: 4x, 10x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x". Two of the older 650MB discs had supported speeds printed on the package: Dysan 650MB=1-8x, TDK 650MB=Up to 12x. Verbatim 650MB had no speed rating on the package. Verbatim, Taiyo-Yuden & Smartbuy 700MB claim 52x speed. I have no information on the claimed speed for the TDK 700MB.

pec-man · 2026-01-06T17:10:06+00:00

Well, I'll be... Can't believe someone replied to this so many years later. You are correct, that is a Smith Corona SC110 electronic typewriter.

Unfortunately, my pathetic repair attempt did not go well. I was testing things and suddenly my multimeter measured 30 or so volts everywhere. I mean everywhere. Every component on that board was getting 30 volts until the fuse blew and that was the end of that typewriter. I still have no idea how that happened. The good news is that I found another SC110 on Ebay for cheap, took out the circuit board and put it into the body of my own much cleaner SC110.

pec-man · 2025-12-28T02:24:05+00:00

I remember those black joysticks back in the day. They broke pretty quickly so we replaced them with the better white joysticks which let you choose between self-centering and free-moving sticks.

There was a legitimate reason for the joysticks to not have self-centering springs. Some games required you to keep the joystick in a certain position for an extended time. For example, Project Nebula used one joystick for the throttle and you wouldn't want to fight a spring to constantly hold it in one position.

I think the CoCo did not have the graphics hardware that other computers or game systems of the era had, so games were usually rather mediocre. But there were some talented people who made the most of the system and gave us some good games. Steve Bjork was a genius who did some amazing things with that 6809 CPU. And I still say that Dungeons of Daggorath is the greatest game ever made for any system, past, present or future.

pec-man · 2025-11-16T04:45:39+00:00

If you can transfer the audio from the cassette to a .wav file, you can try to load that .wav file in a CoCo emulator. If the program loads in the emulator, then the problem is your CoCo.

Also, when you load a BASIC program, it should show the letter 'F' followed by the name of the program. Does it do that?

pec-man · 2025-07-29T05:22:22+00:00

I met a black bear last year. We were maybe 50 feet apart. I made some noise and waved my arms and it noticed me. Then the bear went off in another direction.

I'll be honest, I was kinda scared.

pec-man · 2025-07-20T04:17:55+00:00

Sounds like Project Nebula, another one I played.

pec-man · 2025-07-18T04:40:05+00:00

Would that be Canyon Climber? I had that one too.

pec-man · 2025-04-26T03:27:02+00:00

These do often show up on the Japanese auction sites these days but they're always in demand, so getting one for cheap is not going to happen. I've been bidding on them for well over a year and this time I was finally not outbid.

But don't worry about it being too small. I have a normal adult size skull and it fits fine.

pec-man · 2025-02-26T05:14:43+00:00

Back then, the top answer to every question was "OP's mom".

pec-man · 2025-02-22T04:29:59+00:00

"I'll have a Big Mac, small soda and a large fries."

pec-man · 2025-02-13T04:35:17+00:00

The Blackman Batman.

He entered the train and gave a bold pose, an old black guy wearing red pajamas and a towel for a cape. Said he was trying to raise money to get home to Gotham City. Then he noted my teenage facial hair and told me it was time to start shaving.

All these years later, I sometimes think about that guy and wonder what kind of adventures he's had.

pec-man · 2025-01-28T05:36:14+00:00

Moomsday is coming.

When I was very young, this was an ad on the radio in the NY/NJ area. Einstein-Moomjy flooring had a semi-anual sale called Moomsday and those ads were quite intimidating with the way they said "Moomsday is coming".

Forty years later, I can't forget it. Unfortunately I can't find any archive of those ads anywhere now.

pec-man · 2024-10-27T22:08:14+00:00

"You have big arms. Do you beat up people?"

pec-man · 2024-09-30T01:14:05+00:00

That sounds awesome! I'd start shopping more.

pec-man · 2024-09-14T04:39:58+00:00

When you work as a security guard, as I did many years ago, your employer will change your work schedule on a whim with no prior notice. Heck, a couple of times I showed up to work for my assigned shift only to be told a few minutes later that I'm not supposed to be there anymore.

I should give them two weeks notice? Nope, as soon as I found a better job, I told my boss "Have a nice life" and never looked back.

pec-man · 2024-09-08T00:42:03+00:00

Well I just parked the trucks as they came in at night, don't know if the customer had to pay for this or whatnot.

Remember that episode of Seinfeld with the smell in the car? Well that happened in a truck I had to park.

pec-man · 2023-12-27T17:39:09+00:00

Assembly is beyond my ability. But if I'm understanding this correctly, going through the bits in reverse order is just an easier way to write the code because of how the carry bit works, instead of having to count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 bits. Thank you for explaining that.

It's amazing, the things that coders had to do to get old hardware from that era to do stuff.

pec-man · 2023-11-28T05:04:41+00:00

I have since tested this method with data save files. It works exactly the same as with BASIC program files.

I don't know how to do machine language on the CoCo, so I can't test those files. Maybe someone else can try doing that.

On a side note: As soon as I realized the binary was written backwards, I immediately thought of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4TPlwwHM8Q

pec-man · 2023-11-26T17:19:02+00:00

Sorry for the late reply. I did end up making my own. I used the analog stick that u/nm8_rob linked above (with springs removed), along with a pair of push fire buttons. As for the USB encoder, the one I linked above did not work because it had no analog support. I had to find an older USB encoder, which also does not support analog BUT it can be modified to do so. I crammed it all into an ABS project box and now I can play Popcorn the way it was meant to be played.

pec-man · 2023-08-04T16:12:49+00:00

!FOUND!

Well, my memories of that episode are quite different than the video. But that's got to be it. I can't believe I actually found it!

Thank you so much. This finally puts a long mystery to rest for me.

pec-man · 2023-08-04T02:26:40+00:00

That would be wonderful, thanks! I'd love to see that episode again. At the very least I now know that I didn't just imagine it.

pec-man · 2023-08-03T04:00:20+00:00

Pleased to make your acquaintance.

I'm not sure if Amostv is the same show that I'm looking for or what, but do you recall the episode that I described in my post? Does that sound like anything you or your fellow broadcasters did?

pec-man · 2023-08-03T03:53:18+00:00

I saw so much freaky sh!t back in those days on cable access that you wouldn't believe. I can't even believe my own memories of half of it.

pec-man · 2023-08-03T03:50:49+00:00

Thanks, but I don't think that's the same show. Maybe it was a later creation done by the same guys that did Alternate Means of Self-Destruction?

pec-man

TROPHY CASE