Quote from: BigDumbDinosaur on September 02, 2009, 01:49 PMI'd set you up with an FTP account so you could add and remove as needed.  As long as you don't host any porn stuff... 

Sounds great!  And don't worry, I don't have any porn on any of my personal websites.  Unless you count close-up images of Commodore motherboards. 

Quote from: RobertB on August 29, 2009, 07:09 PM
     My British friends swear that Burger King is a British corporation.

I'm afraid they're wrong.  The first one opened in Miami, Florida, in 1954.

Quote from: Blacklord on August 29, 2009, 02:15 PM
Arnold Schwarzenegger tried the same thing with his chain a few years back & failed as well.

I should probably already know this, but what is Arnold's chain?

Quote from: RobertB on August 29, 2009, 05:42 AM
     Interesting.  I remember the Burger Kings in England.

Yeah... As far as I know, it's called Burger King everywhere else in the world.  Those Aussies just like to be different. 

Quote from: RobertB on August 28, 2009, 02:30 PM
     Is that similar to the Burger King "Hopper"? 

No Burger King in Australia.  If memory serves, it's called Hungry Jack's there.  Same logo and basically the same menu, but a different name.  Apparently this is due to another restaurant in Australia already having the name Burger King, so "our" Burger King had to change their name.

Quote from: BigDumbDinosaur on August 27, 2009, 02:20 PMWould you be interested in getting some stable, no-charge hosting space on a powerful and trustworthy Linux server attached to a T1 line?

As long as I have access to change things around whenever I need to, I'd definately be interested!  Right now, however, there's no way for me to transfer everything.  It'll have to wait until I get back in February.  But please, tell me more about this. 

Quote from: RobertB on August 22, 2009, 03:30 PM
     Heh, no one wants to pay the high cost of shipping it these days. 

That's assuming, of course, that anyone has a spare 128D keyboard to ship in the first place.  My guess is that there are far more 128D's with missing keyboards out there than there are 128D keyboards with missing 128D's. 

If you haven't already, I'd recommend download PromShell from my website.  That program made it a lot easier for me, personally, to use my Promenade C1.  It's the same program that I demoed at both a SCCAN and an FCUG meeting earlier this year.

Welcome! 

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there is a way to wire the keyboard from your flat C128 to use it as a keyboard for your 128D.  It might be an easier solution than finding someone with a spare 128D keyboard.  Those are quite rare these days.

I just saw this today...  Very nice! 

I got word from Lord Ronin that the ACUG website hasn't been working for a while.  I checked it out, and sure enough, I wasn't able to access any of my websites.  The websites are served off my computer at home, so I called my wife and walked her through some troubleshooting steps over the phone.  Together, we were able to figure out the problem, and the websites are now back up and running.  Thanks to LR for bringing this to my attention...  No one else wrote to let me know that there was a problem.  After checking the logs at dyndns.com, it appears that the websites were down for nearly a month.  In the future, if anyone notices any problems with these websites, I'd really appreciate getting an e-mail at wiskow@gmail.com so I can take care of things sooner.  Hopefully this won't be an issue anymore, but you never know. 

The chow hall is what I choose 9 times out of 10.  The way I see it, why pay for food when you can get it for free? 

Quote from: RobertB on July 31, 2009, 03:31 AMThere's a popular Afghani restaurant in Santa Clara (Silicon Valley), California.  Very tasty food which reminded me of Tandoori Indian food.

Just to share a tidbit of information that I've learned since I've been here...  The currency of Afghanistan is the Afghani.  The people and culture of Afghanistan, however, is called Afghan, not Afghani.  So it's "Afghan people" or "Afghan restaurant".  And now you know... 

Quote from: RobertB on July 31, 2009, 03:31 AMOy!  That seems like a long time.

While it may seem like a long time to most people, when you compare it to most people who get sent to this region for anywhere from 9 to 18 months, a 6-month assignment is relatively short.

Quote from: BigDumbDinosaur on July 27, 2009, 12:35 PMI recall that the food there really sucks.  When I used to go to the Middle East years ago, I cringed at the thought of having to eat that swill for a week at a time.  Poor Andrew!  He's got to put up with it for who knows how long.  Sure hope you packed an ample supply of Kaopectate in your sea bag! 

I'm sure that I probably wouldn't enjoy the Afghani cuisine very much, from what I've seen of it and heard about it.  Luckily, I'm in Bagram, on the U.S. military's largest base in this region.  At the base dining facilities, typical American food is served.  And, if you get tired of the free food they serve, there's also a Burger King, Popeye's Chicken, and a Pizza Hut.  There may be other restaurants, but I haven't been all over the base yet.

Anyway, I made it to Afghanistan.  Day 2 here.  2 days down, 6 months to go! 

Yup...  It works! 

Robert is partially correct.  Kuwait is, indeed, a stopover on the way to Afghanistan.  Everyone in the navy who gets sent to Iraq or Afghanistan stops here in Kuwait for army processing and training.  I'll be here for about 7 to 10 days.  Yes, I was in Ramstein, Germany, but that was just a layover while the plane I was on got refuled.

I've been absent from all the forums so far since I started this whole training process, but the "big stuff" is behind me now, so I should have more time to participate here.  Anyone interested in seeing photos of me and the places I've been can check out my photos on my Facebook profile at http://www.facebook.com/wiskow or on my Flickr photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiskow

Quote from: RobertB on May 26, 2009, 04:29 AMI've never seen a 8250. 

The only 8250 and 8250lp I've ever "seen" are the ones on the page I linked to earlier on Bo Zimmerman's website.  But I've never seen either of those two "in person".  Until yesterday, I'd never seen an 8050 "in person"...  Until you showed me the one in the trunk of your car, Robert. 

Quote from: RobertB on May 25, 2009, 05:07 PMWith all the PET stuff I picked up on Saturday -- 5 PETs, 3 8050 drives, motherboards, keyboards, boxes of books, manuals, and schematics -- I'll double-check that quad-density reference.

After double-checking the info on this page on Bo Zimmerman's site, I think you're right.  Both the 8050 and 8250 drives appear to use the "quad density" disks.  But the 8050 formats the disks single-sided, and the 8250 formats disks double-sided.  So on the 8050, you'll get 512K per disk, and on the 8250, you'll get a full megabyte per disk, just like the SFD-1001.

Quote from: RobertB on May 24, 2009, 03:24 PMAh, my mistake.  Hmm, I wonder if they have quad-density 5.25" inch disks needed for PET 8050 drives.

I think you're thinking of the 8250 and 8250lp, not the 8050.  But yes, those are the Athana part # 47-8801 (Double Sided, Double Density, 96 TPI).  That's what you'd need for the 8250 or SFD-1001 drives.  "Quad Density" isn't really what they're called (I think someone just made up that term at one point and the name just stuck).  The difference is in the tracks per inch.  Regular double density disks, such as those used on a 1541 or 1571, are 48 TPI, and those used on the 8250 and SFD-1001 drives are 96 TPI.  But they're both technically double density.

Quote from: RobertB on May 23, 2009, 02:26 PM

QuoteAlso need to know if there are any places to get blank 5.25 media...

There is the Los Angeles company that Andrew Wiskow refers to, the company that has N.O.S. disks.  What's the name of that company again, Andrew?

Athana is the name of the company in the L.A. area, but they don't sell "New Old Stock", they still manufacture new 3.5", 5.25", and even 8" disks in many varieties.  I have purchased disks from Athana, and they are very good quality, and none have failed on me. Check out this page for more info: http://www.athana.com/html/diskette.html

The $100 minimum order that they list on their site no longer applies. Apparently, they haven't updated their site for a while. As for current prices, all you need to do is contact them via e-mail or phone, and ask what the current price is on what you want. I did ask them if they manufacture orders as they come in, or if the disks they sell are manufactured in bulk and then sitting around for a long time. They said that they do, in fact, manufacture orders as they come in, so you can be sure that what you buy from them is "fresh".

Here's some information that may be useful... Current as of the last time I ordered from them (a couple years ago):

The name of the company is ATHANA International, Inc.

Their address is:
24045 Frampton Ave.
Harbor City, CA 90710, U.S.A.

Phone: 800-421-1591 or 310-539-7280
Fax: 310-539-6596
Website: http://www.athana.com/

The disks I found that are ideal for Commodore use are part number 47-7501, which come in an ATHANA box, or part number 47-7501G, which come in a plain white box. These are 5.25 Inch Diskettes DD (Double Sided, Double Density), Unformatted, 48 TPI (Soft Sector). Minimum order is for 2 boxes; each box contains 10 disks. Cost for 2 - 5 boxes is $7.95 each, plus freight. Cost for 6 - 10 boxes is $7.75 each, plus freight. Bulk orders of 500 disks or more are $0.52 per disk. Cost of freight varies, but as an example, I was told that an order of 5 boxes shipped via UPS ground would have a freight charge of $5.25. For any further details, you can call them or e-mail info@athana.com.

I haven't bought any of the 3.5" DSDD disks from them yet, but I'm sure they are just as good as the 5.25" disks they make.  I'm not sure on the price they charge for them, but like I said, all you have to do is ask them.

Just a quick update...  I've managed to find an alternate location to host my web pages, so those will all remain up and running while I'm away.  I've already moved them, and everything seems to be running smoothly.  I added a notice to the top of the main page about the BBSs being down while I'm gone.

Quote from: RobertB on May 22, 2009, 04:26 AM

Quote from: Andrew Wiskow on May 21, 2009, 12:58 PMI'll be shutting everything down on 5 June.

I'll be there just in time to see your BBS set-up, Andrew.  Don't forget that the documentary filmmakers will be tailing me.  Last night they reverified that they want to see that set-up. 

I don't know if I can handle the pressure! 

I found out a couple weeks ago that I might be going on this assignment to Afghanistan, but I was putting off making any official announcements until I knew for sure.  Well, yesterday I got the official orders, so that's about as sure as I can be.  Still, things being the way they are in the military, there's always a chance that things could still change.  One thing that I've learned in the navy is that nothing happens until it happens. 

As many of you already know, I'm in the U.S. navy, and I'm currently stationed in California where I work with TV broadcasting for the military.  I've just been informed that I'll be getting sent to Afghanistan on a temporary assignment to work at the receiving end of the TV signals that we send out from here.  I'll be leaving on 7 June, and I won't be back until 14 February 2010.  As a result of this, both Cottonwood and Borderline BBSs, as well as the Cottonwood website, the ACUG website, and my personal website, will all be offline while I'm away.  I'll be shutting everything down on 5 June.  But, 8 months later, when I get back, everything will be back up and running again.  I'm very grateful for everyone's support, and I look forward to catching up on things in the "Commodore world" upon my return next year.

Nah... Hi-def video won't be necessary... 

I did get some photos from Lord Ronin, and I'm waiting to see if anyone else has any contributions, but eventually I'll get around to getting them all posted on the ACUG website.  Other things just seem to keep getting in the way lately. 

I'm curious, Robert...  Why weren't the photos and video sent to me for addition to the ACUG website, like the past two years?  Don't get me wrong...  I don't really care that much, since if someone else hosts it, it's less work for me...  It just seems like it'd be less confusing to people if everything is kept in the same place from year to year.