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On 9/24/19 1:32 PM, Bald Eagle wrote:
> dick balaska <dic### [at] buckosoftcom> wrote:
>
>> I wrote a maze generator for the Atari VCS / 6502 :)
>> 1KB of ROM and 128 bytes of funky-RAM (read address was different than
>> the write address)
>>
https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_tunnel_runner_black_box_1983_cbs_electronics_richard_k._balaska_jr._an#
>
>
> And exactly how old were you when you wrote THAT?
22.
>
> And how did you get it coded onto a commercial ROM cartridge for the Atari
> system?
A friend of a friend (who turned out to be the Stu in my musical) worked
for CBS Video Games (CBS Electronics). In 1982 they were desperate for
game designers/6502 code monkeys. HR was very concerned about hiring an
engineer with no college, but I knew more about the 6502 than a handful
of people. So I got the job. Got a patent for my wacky solution to the
lack of expansion on the Atari 2600/VCS.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=4485457
One sad note, as a kid, this was my first engineering job. We all had
offices with doors and we had money to burn. "Look at these world's most
expensive workstation/desks! Let's buy a dozen!" My next job I learned
about cubicles and budgets ("maybe you two could *share* a computer?").
>
> I wanna hear this story :)
We had this 6 inch U-channel that ran around the whole office above
everyone's door, for network cables and such. One night at our 3am
powwow in the hall, someone thought it'd be cool to have a train running
on it. So for $10 a share, I would run the train past your office. I
hot glued HO track to it and Stu made two bridges to cross hallways; one
of Erector Set (a CBS property) and one of IC tubes and PC boards. The
train didn't run much because of too much RF interference on 1980s
networking.
My VP came back from Paris and was just livid that I'd wasted time from
my 90 hour work week to do that. Threatened my job, blah blah blah.
Then, everytime he had a visitor, he would call me, "Balaska, turn on
the train... I don't care if Stu is trying to print something."
>
>
>
--
dik
Rendered 22,077,619,200 of 40,928,716,800 pixels (53%)
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Dick Balaska <dic### [at] buckosoftcom> wrote:
> On 9/24/19 1:32 PM, Bald Eagle wrote:
> > dick balaska <dic### [at] buckosoftcom> wrote:
> >
> >> I wrote a maze generator for the Atari VCS / 6502 :)
> >> 1KB of ROM and 128 bytes of funky-RAM (read address was different than
> >> the write address)
> >>
https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_tunnel_runner_black_box_1983_cbs_electronics_richard_k._balaska_jr._an#
> >
> >
> > And exactly how old were you when you wrote THAT?
>
> 22.
>
> >
> > And how did you get it coded onto a commercial ROM cartridge for the Atari
> > system?
>
> A friend of a friend (who turned out to be the Stu in my musical) worked
> for CBS Video Games (CBS Electronics). In 1982 they were desperate for
> game designers/6502 code monkeys. HR was very concerned about hiring an
> engineer with no college, but I knew more about the 6502 than a handful
> of people. So I got the job. Got a patent for my wacky solution to the
> lack of expansion on the Atari 2600/VCS.
> http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=4485457
>
> One sad note, as a kid, this was my first engineering job. We all had
> offices with doors and we had money to burn. "Look at these world's most
> expensive workstation/desks! Let's buy a dozen!" My next job I learned
> about cubicles and budgets ("maybe you two could *share* a computer?").
>
> >
> > I wanna hear this story :)
>
> We had this 6 inch U-channel that ran around the whole office above
> everyone's door, for network cables and such. One night at our 3am
> powwow in the hall, someone thought it'd be cool to have a train running
> on it. So for $10 a share, I would run the train past your office. I
> hot glued HO track to it and Stu made two bridges to cross hallways; one
> of Erector Set (a CBS property) and one of IC tubes and PC boards. The
> train didn't run much because of too much RF interference on 1980s
> networking.
> My VP came back from Paris and was just livid that I'd wasted time from
> my 90 hour work week to do that. Threatened my job, blah blah blah.
> Then, everytime he had a visitor, he would call me, "Balaska, turn on
> the train... I don't care if Stu is trying to print something."
>
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> dik
> Rendered 22,077,619,200 of 40,928,716,800 pixels (53%)
Great story, Dick, sorry Mr Balaska, from now on.
There are some clever people using Povray.
I always thought Erector was the American name for the British Meccano. Why CBS
property?
Cheers
Ton.
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I truly enjoyed this story indeed. Thank you very much! At least, it
explains the train in your animation! ;-)
--
Thomas
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On 11/7/19 5:53 AM, Ton wrote:
> Great story, Dick, sorry Mr Balaska, from now on.
> There are some clever people using Povray.
> I always thought Erector was the American name for the British Meccano. Why CBS
> property?
Wow, I was unaware of Meccano (although Hornby Trains are highly
collectible). I'm surprised there wasn't a life long international
court battle between A.C. Gilbert (Erector) and Hornby (Meccano).
A.C. Gilbert died in the 60s and his toy company floundered. Gabriel
Toys bought his stuff and CBS bought Gabriel.
CBS also owned Fender Guitars and Steinway Pianos through other
acquisitions. (And of course, they owned Michael Jackson and Billy Joel.
"Thriller" made a noticeable amount of money for the very large company.)
--
dik
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Hi(gh)!
On 07.11.19 19:17, Dick Balaska wrote:
> Toys bought his stuff and CBS bought Gabriel.
> CBS also owned Fender Guitars and Steinway Pianos through other
> acquisitions. (And of course, they owned Michael Jackson and Billy Joel.
...and finally, we end up with one monstrous giga-corporation, let's
call it GloFac, with a stock majority held by the Communist Party of
China, owning literally EVERYTHING on the planet, not just any business,
but also all natural resources down to the very water and air and even
life-time, every human being on Earth, their thoughts, their feelings,
even their memories (for which they have to pay license fees, otherwise
they would be interned in a "laogai" camp and processed into human
protein concentrate)...
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
THE-PARTY-IS-ALWAYS-RIGHT!
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
TWO-PLUS-TWO-IS-FIVE!
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
THE-ELECTRIC-FENCE-MAKES-ME-HAPPY!
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
PLEASE-VAPORIZE-ME!
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
PLEASE-VAPORIZE-ME!
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
PLEASE-VAPORIZE-ME!
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack
See you in Khyberspace!
Yadgar
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Op 07/11/2019 om 19:17 schreef Dick Balaska:
> Toys bought his stuff and CBS bought Gabriel.
> CBS also owned Fender Guitars and Steinway Pianos through other
> acquisitions. (And of course, they owned Michael Jackson and Billy Joel.
>
In: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set they have a little
different story ending:
[quote]
A.C. Gilbert died in 1961,[1]:186 and the company went into decline,
filing for bankruptcy in 1967.[1]:191 The product was redesigned, adding
many plastic parts, but the "clunky" looking models failed to compete
with the new, more-realistic scale plastic models coming onto the
market. The Gabriel company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania bought the
Erector brand name and continued to market the recently redesigned
system. Sales were slow, and by the 1980s the trademark Erector was
acquired by Ideal Toys and then Tyco Toys. In 2000, Meccano bought the
Erector brand and unified its presence on all continents. The two brands
are now sold under the Meccano brand name, with the Erector Set being
marketed as "Erector by Meccano".
[/quote]
--
Thomas
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I got a few of the "Engino" sets for STEM - I think they are Russian.
I've seen a few videos of the Kinex sets - but they are $$$
Zome by George Hart looks interesting.
I wish I still had my very extensive set of molecular modeling kits from before
the Apocalypse.
Here in the uSA, It seems that LEGO has virtually dominated the market.
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On 11/9/19 2:29 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> Op 07/11/2019 om 19:17 schreef Dick Balaska:
>> Toys bought his stuff and CBS bought Gabriel.
>> CBS also owned Fender Guitars and Steinway Pianos through other
>> acquisitions. (And of course, they owned Michael Jackson and Billy
>> large company.)
>>
>
> In: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set they have a little
> different story ending:
>
> [quote]
> A.C. Gilbert died in 1961,[1]:186 and the company went into decline,
> filing for bankruptcy in 1967.[1]:191 The product was redesigned, adding
> many plastic parts, but the "clunky" looking models failed to compete
> with the new, more-realistic scale plastic models coming onto the
> market. The Gabriel company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania bought the
> Erector brand name and continued to market the recently redesigned
> system. Sales were slow, and by the 1980s the trademark Erector was
> acquired by Ideal Toys and then Tyco Toys. In 2000, Meccano bought the
> Erector brand and unified its presence on all continents. The two brands
> are now sold under the Meccano brand name, with the Erector Set being
> marketed as "Erector by Meccano".
> [/quote]
>
Ships passing in the night apparently.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS#Gabriel_Toys
Gabriel Toys
CBS entered the video game market briefly, through its acquisition of
Gabriel Toys (renamed CBS Toys), publishing several arcade adaptations
and original titles under the name "CBS Electronics", for the Atari
2600, and other consoles and computers; it also produced one of the
first karaoke recording/players. CBS Electronics also distributed all
Coleco-related video game products in Canada, including the
ColecoVision. CBS later sold Gabriel Toys to View-Master, which
eventually ended up as part of Mattel.
--
dik
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Op 09/11/2019 om 17:58 schreef Dick Balaska:
> On 11/9/19 2:29 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>> Op 07/11/2019 om 19:17 schreef Dick Balaska:
>>> Toys bought his stuff and CBS bought Gabriel.
>>> CBS also owned Fender Guitars and Steinway Pianos through other
>>> acquisitions. (And of course, they owned Michael Jackson and Billy
>>> large company.)
>>>
>>
>> In: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erector_Set they have a little
>> different story ending:
>>
>> [quote]
>> A.C. Gilbert died in 1961,[1]:186 and the company went into decline,
>> filing for bankruptcy in 1967.[1]:191 The product was redesigned,
>> adding many plastic parts, but the "clunky" looking models failed to
>> compete with the new, more-realistic scale plastic models coming onto
>> the market. The Gabriel company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania bought the
>> Erector brand name and continued to market the recently redesigned
>> system. Sales were slow, and by the 1980s the trademark Erector was
>> acquired by Ideal Toys and then Tyco Toys. In 2000, Meccano bought the
>> Erector brand and unified its presence on all continents. The two
>> brands are now sold under the Meccano brand name, with the Erector Set
>> being marketed as "Erector by Meccano".
>> [/quote]
>>
>
> Ships passing in the night apparently.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS#Gabriel_Toys
>
> Gabriel Toys
> CBS entered the video game market briefly, through its acquisition of
> Gabriel Toys (renamed CBS Toys), publishing several arcade adaptations
> and original titles under the name "CBS Electronics", for the Atari
> 2600, and other consoles and computers; it also produced one of the
> first karaoke recording/players. CBS Electronics also distributed all
> Coleco-related video game products in Canada, including the
> ColecoVision. CBS later sold Gabriel Toys to View-Master, which
> eventually ended up as part of Mattel.
>
LOL
Showing how reliable/complete info can be or not. History is always more
complicated. ;-)
I get the impression that CBS did /not/ aquire the Erector /brandname/
apparently together with Gabriel Toys but were interested in the video
game branch. If I read the info right: the "trademark" Erector was
acquired by Ideal Toys in the 1980's while (at the same time?) Gabriel
Toys was acquired by CBS. Which explains why you can now find "Erector
by Meccano" sets. http://www.meccano.com/about
Oh well...
--
Thomas
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Dick Balaska wrote on 07/11/2019 05:06:
> On 9/24/19 1:32 PM, Bald Eagle wrote:
>> dick balaska <dic### [at] buckosoftcom> wrote:
>>
>>> I wrote a maze generator for the Atari VCS / 6502 :)
>>> 1KB of ROM and 128 bytes of funky-RAM (read address was different than
>>> the write address)
>>>
https://archive.org/details/atari_2600_tunnel_runner_black_box_1983_cbs_electronics_richard_k._balaska_jr._an#
>>>
Thank you for sharing this memory, it made me go back in time!
;-)
Paolo
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