OLD
CHANGES 
August 1999
OLD
CHANGES
August 1999
8/31/99
What? Daily updates?
Don't get too used to it :)Heard from the creator of Cablouie's MAME arcade Cabinet today. He's got an arcade cabinet project going that's in its infancy, but already has a decent web page. He's using a swappable control panel design inspired by Roswell, and has at least 5 panels planned(!). He's building his own cabinet from scratch, and is taking an interesting approach slightly different than I've seen before. Take a look :) Added to the examples page. This makes 74 projects now! T-26 and counting :)Tim Jackson got his ArcadePC mini cabinet from Hanaho a day or two ago, and was kind enough to write up and send to me a review! His thoughts? He's impressed :) Take a read and see how impressed!8/30/99 Emailed and heard back from the person behind the PC-Arcade joystick. They've been in business for about two months now. They have a 30 day money back guarantee if you're dis-satisfied in any way with the joystick - you can send it back for a full refund. Look for new pictures coming to their web site soon.
- RGB to NTSC Encoder - Play arcade games on TV - ends 9/6
- Super GUN to Play Coin Op Games at Home - ends 9/4
- Wico JOYSTICKS - NEW PAIR! - ends 9/2 (this person seems to be putting these up every few days - leaf style)
Last chance this evening to enter EmuViewsHotRod contest for August. My entry's in, is yours? :)*NT*
8/29/99
Ran across this one originally on ebay a few days back, now they've got another one up. PC Arcade is selling an arcade joystick for the pc available in two styles and 3 colors. It's either a 1 or 2 joystick configuration, 4 buttons total either way, and I'm guessing a joystick hack though I could be wrong. I've emailed the seller asking for more information. It's $69.99 for the 1 stick, $99.99 for the 2 stick, and $10 for shipping domestically, $16 out of the states. The one up on ebay is currently at $99. The seller currently has 2 positive feedbacks on ebay, no negatives. Added to the alternatives section.** Please note - I try to report anyone in this field I run across. However, the fact that I've mentioned them is in no way an endorsement (or a criticism either) -- unless I specifically mention that I've had dealings with them and pass on my opinion, it's buyer beware. If I get feedback positive or negative I'll pass it along. For vendors that do have my confidence, please see the Disclaimer section of the alternatives page. Other vendors I simply do not have enough quantitative experience with to form an opinion. **
Gratton's Arcade Cabinet has moved to a slightly different URL. Mike indicated to me that he's updated the page as well regarding the monitor rotation part. If you're thinking of rotating your monitor, take a look at his site - good pictures of how he did it.Thanks to StaticX for the word, you can find MS-Sidewinders on sale for $22.08. Couple that with a $10 rebate from MicroSoft, and you've got a good pad to hack for $12.08.No one! The contest has been extended until Wednesday, September 1st, due to some lost entries so as to make it fair for everyone. If you haven't entered yet, you still have a chance :)8/27/99 Someone is giving away a free cabinet, must snag by 9/1/99, in Albany NY.WindDrake emailed me about his PC-Arcade project, a RetroCactus based project. :) Added to the examples page. This now makes 73 projects linked! T-27 and counting :)Got an email from a fellow named Dave Johnson, about a fairly simple and extremely cheap (5 cents per joystick!) circuit he created to interface joysticks to the PC game port. Thanks Dave!8/26/99 The Ebay page is not going to be update anymore. Too much overhead. Instead, as I find things I think are interesting, I'll just list them here in the news page. The second item, CIB-1000 is the Happ Controls PC-Arcade interface, $220 from Happ. Someone might get a good deal there. I have zero affiliation with any of these, buyer beware, etc . . .Another MAME arcade cabinet has popped up, from someone who will have some interesting things for us perhaps soon :) A couple of interesting things from his page - 1. The display is driven by an ATI xpert@play card, by using a terminating resistor on the comp out port the card is restricted to a 60Hz refresh rate, 2. The spinner was made from an old AC induction motor and mouse hack - total cost, less than $20 (Canadian). Take a look at this one! Also added ChrisF's learner arcade controller (2 PowerRamp pad hack) to the examples page. It's been here for a while, but wasn't added to the page by an oversight. Thanks to Tom61 for noticing :) Finally, Roswell 88201 has put up their own page. Roswell has a page here as well, but their own page gives a different writeup of it and is worth a look :) We're now at a total of 72 projects. Come on 100!Added MAME CD Cover Art (885 kb, classic game emphasis) to the downloads section. Created by Tadd who has given it to us all, he has this to say about it:This is for personal use only and should not be used for commerical gain or to distribute MAME in violation of the license (by including Roms). Otherwise, people can use/or modify them to suit their needs.Please heed his wishes in this regard. Thanks Tadd!The PC2Jamma page has moved to a new home, and ArcadeOS is now up to version 2.30. Brian's a busy man these days :)
Jeff from Arcade2000 wanted to pass on to everyone that the contest for the Atari Arcade Hits #1 CD will end on Saturday Evening, August 28th, and the winner will be announced on Sunday. Thanks to all who submitted, and for those who haven't please do by Saturday Afternoon.In addition to the CD there will be an additional, unannounced giveaway, to be announced Saturday as well!
Added 3 new bits of eye candy to the downloads page. An anonymous person sent me Tron startup/shutdown (55.3 kb) screens for Win9x. Also added Galaga (790 kb) and Dragon's Lair (3.6 MB) screen savers which include avi files, found on the Blast from the Past classic arcade site (worth a visit). By the way, here's the link I forgot to give earlier for the MAME startup/shutdown screens. There are now over 23 megs of eye candy for your downloading pleasure.Retrogaming Times did a writeup of the Classic Gaming Expo, including a bit called Tale of Two Joysticks with a look at the HotRod and the Arcade2000 featuring Arcade Solutions' control panels. They were suitably impressed with both. Link to article found courtesy of Arcade@Home. (Phew, could I possibly have more links in a single paragraph?)Speaking of Arcade Solutions! Andy has put a price up for the Ferrari of arcade controllers. It's $750 not including shipping! Andy said he'd be happy to send someone an email with an itemized price list! Someone with the cash is going to be very happy indeed.Stick-It has put up final photos of their arcade controller online on their web site. The Stick-It will cost you $149, tacking on another $19.95 for shipping. Anyone buying one and wanting to share their experience, please let me know. :)Do you read rec.games.video.arcade.marketplace and rec.games.video.arcade.collecting? In the past 3 days, I've seen no less than 4 free arcade game cabinets available around the country, and one MAME machine for sale. If the links above don't work for you, you don't have news reading configured on your system. Go to DejaNews and set yourself up a free news account there :) Also, there's a ton of joysticks and such being put on ebay right now - too many for me to try to list.Probably this weekend.
As kind of mentioned Friday, I've put up a new page listing ebay items I find that I think might be of interest to build-your-own folks. Please note I have *nothing* to do with any of these auctions other than noticing them - I don't endorse the sellers, I don't know anything about the product. It will be updated sporadically *if* I get any feedback from people that they like the feature - otherwise it's not worth my time. Some things I've been finding.... Wico leaf joysticks (can't buy them from Wico anymore), Tron trigger joysticks, pushbuttons in bulk, etc... The ebay page will live off the links page. Presently 9 items listed.One item I snagged off ebay recently is a Tron trigger-grip joystick. This will have a central place on my cabinet. There are some games, notably Tron, that just have to have a trigger grip or three hands. One for spinner, one for joystick, one to fire. I also think the joystick is a slick looking stick. Click the link above for pictures. I see Tron sticks or control panels every few weeks on ebay if you're interested in one :)I have seen the Ferrari of arcade controllers, and it is awesome! Even better? It's for sale :) Arcade Solutions has put up pictures of this monster at the link above. Dual spinners, 3" trackball, rotatable joystick, buttons galore, PSX & N64 compatible as well as PC, 100% programmable in PC mode - this thing is incredible (dare I say sexy?)! Andy would like feedback on it, so please don't hesitate to send him an email!Received my PowerRamp a couple of days ago, and promptly voided the warranty. With all the recent discussion about PowerRamps, I thought they deserved their own page. Unfortunately, it's almost midnight and I haven't finished that page... next update :)At the risk of sounding immodest - I want to send out again a big thanks to the folks on the message boards. Nothing but courteous, helpful responses, and I very much appreciate it. The message board has exceeded my expectations and it's due to you all.Thanks!
Added Mr. Salty's MAME cabinet to the cabinets section. Not sure how this one escape being added earlier :) It's a keyboard encoder project with swappable control panels, rotatable monitor, excellent documentation and pictures. Still a work in progress. This site has to be one of the *coolest* web sites I've seen. This makes 69 projects now!Windows 9x MAME startup/shutdown screens found on James Gamesroom's web site. A nice touch for a complete arcade-retro experience.Thomas Thonérfelth posted a message on the board detailing a keyboard encoder he's developing and asking for feedback. The highlights:Please read the message and give him feedback if you have any!
- The zenc56 is configured for mame buttons, but there is also a on-the-fly programming option.
- 56 inputs
- You can plug your keyboard into it (needed when programming), but it also works without it.
- No ghosting.
- Price $40-$50, depending on final costs and if you want to solder it yourself.
The diode discussion continues on. Several folks have been having problems getting diodes to help with ghosting as originally thought. I think the final verdict is still coming on that, but it seems partially to depend on how your encoder functions, as well as how you wire it. The only comment I'd like to add to the debate at the moment is that as noted above, the PowerRamp uses them on all the input streams :)Message threads:
Don't forget the diode page. Anyone having a succesful diode experience want to weigh in with their comments?Arcade2000 is now taking orders for their arcade cabinets featuring controllers from Arcade Solutions. The web site is not yet ready for online/CC ordering, but you can email sales@arcade2000.com to order.From the sounds of it, the CGE was a big success this year :) Gamespot News did a writeup on the show, with a nice mention of HotRod and Arcade2000. Equipped with a spinner, they decided to hold a Tempest tournament on the Arcade2000 :)Of course :) PowerRamp page, a new joystick-interface circuit, and .... more? :)
Too tired for a real update, look for one this weekend. Several things to add. New page up now, please take a look and let me know if it's worth the effort of maintaining it.Deepest sympathies and regret for Atila of Retrogames and other victims and family members of the earthquake in Turkey.
Well, I was waiting for this to happen, and now it has :) Someone is selling their 2 stick 2 button per stick joystick port arcade stick on ebay. Current price is $20.00, reserve not yet met. Ends at 23:15 PDT. Trend of things to come? :)
Yet another email exchange with Hagstrom asking about their on-the-fly programmable encoders. The slower version of the KE-24 requires a jumper to program. Someone asked me how/if the jumper came into play with the KE-24 FAST model. Their answer:The "on-the-fly" loading is accomplished without the use of the programming jumper. The IC on the KE24 must show a version number of V - 110181 or higher (ex:V - 110182 ....). This version requires our KE24CFG program (included with the unit) version 5.1 or higher. Note that an errant KE24 setup could prevent the unit from responding to the "on-the-fly" programming, so the jumper will still work to force the KE24 into program mode regardless of the onfiguration. We still include the jumper with the unit just in case the user has entered an incorrect configuration (same pin defined as a row and a column, for example).Been to Arcade@Home lately? Tim's revamping his arcade machine with a USB interface ($159) from Happ Controls and one of their trackballs ($75). So far he says it's working great! I think the cost of my project-to-be just went up, though I'll probably use the trackball interface kit instead ($50).
- Added a patch to the utilities section for Williams Arcade Classics (DOS) that bypasses the title screen. Originally found on Kevin's Build Your Own Arcade Machine.
- Added Joykeys and Mousekeys to the drivers section. TSR utilities that emulate a keyboard in DOS programs so that you can either a joystick or mouse in programs that don't support them.
- The Mean Green MAME site has a MAME marquee available for download that I've mirrored in the eye-candy section. It's 12" by 24" and has little to no distortion.
Tweaked the HTML a bit to add counters to the bottom of most sections. I'm trying to gauge the popularity and usefulness of the various parts of the FAQ. This required going from .htm/.html to .shtml extensions. Let me know if anything is broken.I find a lot of things that *almost* but not quite make it into the FAQ. Either it's not relevant enough, or hasn't been updated in forever, or... But if you're interested, here are some. Tell me if you think I should change my mind and add any in :)I probably won't share any more of my rejected pile unless I hear feedback that people are interested in it :)
- PHD Innovations - SNES pad/lightgun to PC adapter
(vaporware)
- Arcade Addresses FAQ - big list of arcade related addresses
(tagged for my collecting site if/when it gets done)
- The Ultimate MAME Joystick - an arcade joystick for PCs from long ago
(Hasn't been for sale for some time, but author says it might again soon. Please do not email him.)
- Keyboard/monitor/mouse splitters
(commercial, too expensive)
- Iguana Labs electronics tutorials
(excellent, eventually will find it's way into the FAQ)
- Tomi Engdal's joystick technical info
(excellent, not sure where to put it)
- Alex's Electronic Resource Library - want to know more about electronics still?
(excellent, no idea where to put it)
- PC hardware hacking tutorial
(another good one, no idea where to classify it)
- StarTech Journal message board - good arcade topic wwwboard
(destined for collecting site, on links page now)
- Desktop themes unleashed - check out the games themes, many of which are popular to a lot of you.
(Not retro enough for me)
- Build Your Own Cockpit - for flight sim buffs
(will probably add a link to this)
Quite possible that there will be more to come today... but then that's not been true the last three times I said it, so... :)
Stick-It plans proceed! Got an email from the creator with an update. Some highlights:More news as I get it :)
- The plans for a partnership do not look like they're going to pan out, but that isn't slowing them down.
- The brain of the Stick-It will be fully programmable, and will support up to 96 controls (albeit a customized version costing more than the $98 standard version).
- Each control can be programmed not only for a single keystroke, but also the keypress can generate up to 26 keystrokes (macro) and so can the key release!
- The model has a keyboard passthru port, and will come in both PS/2 and USB (imac compatible) versions.
Tweaked the message board script so that the content auto-expires instantly. This means when you post a message, you don't have to reload to see it anymore.AmigaZoid sent me some information to share... He found a Street Fighter II cabinet to hack for his arcade project. To test things out, he hacked a Microsoft Natural Elite USB keyboard to wire his controls to. He was able to hook up two joysticks with 6 buttons each, and so far has seen no ghosting problems. His keymap can be found here in HTML or in the original MS-Excel format. The nice thing is his PS/2 keyboard is still fully functional, and of course his controller is hot-swappable being that it's USB.
Thanks AmigaZoid! (this one only took me two months to get posted *cringe*. Did I post this before? I don't think I did.)Added some new files in the EyeCandy section of the downloads. This is some great retro stuff and will find its way on my cabinet in startup/shutdown sequences and elsewhere....From the Tron page
And from the Dragon's Lair Project
- Tron screen saver (973 kb)
- Tron font (9 kb)
- Tron Windows 9x theme (1 MB)
The Tron page and Dragon's Lair Project site were both serious trips down memory lane, with tons more than what I've mirrored here. Definitely worth a visit!
- Dragon's Lair Attract Mode AVI (2.1 MB)
- Dragon's Lair Drawbridge scene AVI (936 kb)
- Dragon's Lair final scene AVI (5 MB!)
- Space Ace Attract Mode mpeg (1.9 MB)
Tons more actually, darn that need to sleep!
HotRod/Hanaho will be at the CGE this weekend as well, and invites everyone to stop on by and see them :)The Arcade2000 web site has put up a picture of a prototype of the cabinet they are selling. It does not have all the finishing trim/etc on it but gives you a good idea of what it's going to be :)Added ChrisF's arcade controller "learner" project. This is a stand-alone controller using two PowerRamp gamepads and a mouse-spinner hack. This brings us up to 68 projects! Chris made a point to thank the folks who contribute on the message board. Thanks Chris!Added mjf's arcade machine to the links section, an upright cabinet with some interesting artwork. Also added skygodd's cabaret MAME machine, with some nice pictures of the insides. That makes 70 projects now :)Here's a bit of bittersweet nostalgia courtesy of the Basement Arcade (You haven't heard of the Basement Arcade? How can you be into arcade games and not have heard of the Basement Arcade? Go, we'll wait here till you get back.) entitled The Last New Ms-PacMan.I asked the folks at Hagstrom about programming their encoders when daisychained. There is one thing to bear in mind about programming them when daisy-chaining their encoders. They cannot be addressed as one unit, so you'll need to either have two serial ports connected to the two KE-24's, or realize you can only program one LP24 at a time as the "upstream" LP24 cannot be programmed via the keyboard interface. Presumably you would have to program each one at a time then daisy-chain them. This could be a headache if it was buried within a cabinet.me if I said there was more to come?
Working on the downloads section today. Added the following files:
- ZDKeyMag (59kb) - a utility to remap your keyboard, handy for instance if you have a game that doesn't support HotRod's left-alt button. Thanks to slube for the info on the message board!
- Cory Vigen's MAME marquee (2.5 MB) added to the EyeCandy section.
- JOYEMU and JOYEM (125 kb) are keyboard emulators for joystick and mouse: they are two TSR programs that let you use your input devices with software that accepts only keyboard input, or with those programs that have weak support for other kind of input. They're shipped with JoyCP, a full featured and easy to use external interface.
- Way back in May (cringe) John Dickson sent me a utility he wrote that helps find ghosting/masking problems with keyboards or encoders. It's been available for some time but hasn't actually been linked except in the message board. John would like feedback on the utility so please email him if you give it a try. GhostKey (51 kb).
- Added another DOS Sidewinder gamepad driver. Like the other one, this driver allows you to use a Sidewinder in DOS games that you normally wouldn't be able to. If you have a Sidewinder, please download it and give me feedback on how well it works.
(Or stop me before I go broke!) In the past few days, I've purchased an Atari 2600 system for my study, a Donkey Kong wall clock for my game room, and a Tron trigger-grip joystick for my arcade cabinet project, all to feed my retrogaming habit. Where? Ebay! I'm cutting myself off before I can no longer afford to feed my children :) Seriously though, if you're looking for a good place to find some hard-to-find component for your project (been looking for a good Tron joystick for months) or a place to do research, ebay is a great resource and is recommended. Caveat - you'll pay more on ebay than if you can find it elsewhere!Arcade2000 cometh! The folks at Arcade2000 will be at the Classic Gaming Expo in LasVegas on August 14th and 15th. If you're planning to be in the area, stop by and see them :)Interesting news from Twisty-Grip. They've announced a blueprint buy-back plan. Purchase the TwistyGrip yoke blueprints and build your yoke. If you send them a picture of your working TwistyGrip yoke, they'll buy back your blueprints at 50% of the price and they'll pay the shipping! The caveat is that the offer is only good for 3 months after you purchase the blueprints.Sections 1 and 2 of the step-by-step guide are finished. I would very much like to hear feedback from folks on it so far, particularly section 2. If you've got a few minutes, please take a look :)Stephan Hans has re-surfaced :) A couple of interesting bits of information at his N64 adapter page recently.
- He's running a bit behind getting N64 adapters out to people who've bought them. He'll be catching up as fast as he can but please bear in mind this is a "free time" kind of thing for him. However, this delay actually can be a good thing if you're still waiting on your adapter, because . . .
- If you have an order pending, and email him before it's made and shipped, you can modify your order. This is good because . . .
- As mentioned previously, dual-interfaces are now available. Instead of two interfaces with a Y-adapter, Stephan has created a dual-interface in one unit. Obviously, one dual interface is cheaper than two single interfaces with a Y-Adapter. The price is 75 DM, 40$ US or 26£ UK. A kit for the dual-interfaces will soon be available as well.
- Until the backlog is caught up, Stephan has stopped selling pre-made adapters. The kits are still available for purchase.
- Stephan's kits are now available for purchase in a store in Germany - Gooooo Stephan! :)
Apparently with Stephan's blessing (in fact, linked off of Stephan's page), the PC-Doctor is also selling N64 interfaces based off of the above circuit. His pricing matches that of Stephans, and can be purchased online.Added Project Kangaroo to the arcade cabinets section. This brings us up to 67 projects now!There was a message on Dave's Video GameClassics a while ago asking about the ability to use multiple serial ports in MAME. John iv - maintainer of the MAME32 port, replied with a one liner with great potential ... "the next version of Mame32 has support for multiple analogue devices" :) MAME is in it's next release cycle, so ... stay tuned!Updated miscellaneous pages on the FAQ to reflect things that were reported in the news.More to come!
John posted a message over at Dave's Video Game Classics that he was willing to sell his MAME cabinet for $1200. He didn't leave an email so you'll have to respond on Dave's board if you're interested :)
Yes! Several folks have been discussing getting a high number of imputs (50!?) and are looking for a different answer than diodes. I emailed Hagstrom to ask if they could be daisy-chained, and their answer was yes - within limits. Read their answer on the interfaces page.
Cory Vigen gave me his blessing to put up a mirror of his MAME marquee :) Cory has one request and that is if you use his marquee, you do not remove his name from it. I encourage everyone to respect his wishes in that regard, as he's put a lot of work into it and the name is fairly small. The file is 2.5 megs *zipped* but looks good :) See the preview below.
(Click to download marquee - 2.5 megs)Bear in mind that the above is a thumbnail of a thumbnail! You can see a larger thumbnail here (167kb). Lifted from his web page (until he asks me to refer folks there directly, but we're saving his server from overload now) is a writeup on how he made it and how to use it. Added to the Finishing page.
Finished putting together the html version of Andrew Bartmess' excellent writeup of his CompUsa Crystal Trackball hack. If you're thinking of using a trackball hack, Andrew and VoodooChile's writeups are both must reads. Thanks Andrew!Got a sneak peek at the new arcade control project vendor's web site today, and it's shaping up nicely. You can find Stick-It The retro gaming simulator here :) The web site is still a work in progress but it will give you a good feel for what they're about.Would you drop your arcade cabinet off a two story building and still expect it to work? :) Check out the ArcadePC by Arcade Technologies - a pc designed to be put in an arcade cabinet (and here we are designing cabinets to put around PCs, silly us). Featuring Windows 98 specifically tweaked for the arcade market. An interesting visit. Thanks to powerjaw for the email!I've been seeing many message board discussions and actual reviews of the HotRod recently, and all of them are good :) Here's a few of them:
- Tony, of Tony's Homebuilt Arcade Joystick, posted a review of the HotRod over at classicgaming.com. I love the last picture :)
- There's a thread over at RetroGames message board about the HotRod. I have a mirror copy here in case it disappears.
- . . . And the same thing on Dave's VideoGame Classics' message board :) Their copy, and my mirror.
LaserRot's Domain has done several updates recently to their arcade cabinet project, with some new pictures posted. Be sure to stop on by. :) Done some recent updates to your project and want to share? Let me know!Someone emailed me a copy of the MAME/arcade cabinet marquee they've created, and it looks awesome! I've asked permission to post it here for download, and if I do (I think I will) I'll do so asap :) Anyone else got something like this going on?Pier emailed me with news that his "WeirdPier's MAME cabinet" was in the works and ready for people to take a look :) He's got a nicely done web site, with frequent updates. He's going the PC2Jamma route. Thanks Pier! This brings us to 66 (miscounted last update) projects now!:)
Check this out :) Got an email from a gent yesterday about a new business venture he's going into. He and a well known company are in discussions to sell a stand alone arcade controller! Here are some of the details:This controller is made specifically for MAME, using a keyboard hack with a controller from Fry's Electronics, and parts from Happ Controls. With 3 weeks of testing, he has found no problems with keyboard ghosting. 2 joysticks, coin up, escape, 1 plr, 2 plr, and 6 control buttons (3 each joystick).The pictures below are prototypes. When they come into production the actual console layout will be changing, and the cabinet will be sealed. The joysticks will be in production this month and you can expect them in about 30 - 45 days. They also have a web site in development.
Things are still a bit in flux right now, but probably there will be an additional button added per joystick, and do I hear a call for a spinner?
The price? $98.00! The name? To be announced, pending perhaps an arrangement with yet another well known entity :)
Comments/questions/want to order? Email Danny :) More news when I get it!
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Updated VoodooChile's Radical arcade cabinet to the proper URL. Also, he was good enough to send me a writeup (quite some time ago actually) on how he interfaced the CompUSA glowing trackball to his cabinet, and here it is, fairly graphic intensive. VoodooChile put a lot of work into this writeup and I sure appreciate it :) There's another writeup about a different trackball from another author coming soon.Been to JoseQ's EmuViews lately? Aside from being an excellent emulation site, and being the owner of my web host speedhost.com (shameless plug time: Looking for a reliable web host? Great service and excellent uptime/speed. Sign up and mention me as a referral and I get a price break :)), EmuViews is now giving away a free HotRod each month! Stop by and enter :)The folks at Arcade2000 wanted to pass along to everyone that their web site is up and running now. IT's got information, specs, sales information (credit card and online check acceptance coming soon) and the contest for the Atari Arcade Hits #1 is still going on. Be sure to stop on by :)More to come! :) (possibly tonight, but wanted to get this uploaded now)I say this a lot, but I wanted to re-emphasize that I answer every single piece of email I get regarding the FAQ, and very much appreciate all the contributions by people out there. Unfortunately, with work/kids/clumsiness <grin>, it's not always very fast. Some of you have had things in to me for some time now that are still pending. Here's how I generally work: News releases, links to new web sites, or time sensitive material that's easy to add typically gets added within a day. Projects and writeups that are fairly well put together, particularly if they're HTML'ized, go up a bit slower as time allows. Information that needs to be written up and HTML'ized by me tends to sit the longest. I do not at all mind the latter, in fact in many ways I prefer it because it allows me to keep a fairly consistant look and feel to the web site. I'd much rather receive a great idea on a cocktail napkin than have someone sit on it because they didn't have the time/inclination to make it fancy. Also, email that asks a question that requires some thought to answer usually takes a while for me to get a sane moment or two. I still promise to answer them all, but you might get faster (and probably more knowledgable) answers on the message board. At any rate, please keep it coming no matter what form it's in :) However, please bear the above in mind when it takes me a little while to get things up here. Yes, I feel guilty at the size of my pending pile :)
(Having said that, does anyone speak Taiwanese? Got an email from someone that I couldn't understand and can't find a translator for. Please let me know )
Rodney's done it again :) He's built a new joystick he's calling the Patriot, and it's a thing of beauty. You folks realize everytime you send me one of these gems I look at my sad-by-comparison popsicle stick project and go back to knitting?
