Thread
RetroChallenge 2008
Okay, it's that time again...
The new RC site is up, and it's time to get your entries in (or at least start thinking about them).
Pretty much the same as past events, with the exception that this time round I've put an age limit on qualifying systems... all systems used have to be a minimum of 10 years old. Now before anyone complains that they don't have anything that old, let me remind you that it's called RetroChallenge for a reason... besides which, if you can't muster up an old enough system, you can always use an emulator and enter the programming or creative challenges.
Oh, and the other difference is that there will be PRIZES this time... the winner of each challenge will receive an official RC2008 T-shirt or mouse pad (or both, if the budget allows).
Good Luck!
The new RC site is up, and it's time to get your entries in (or at least start thinking about them).
Pretty much the same as past events, with the exception that this time round I've put an age limit on qualifying systems... all systems used have to be a minimum of 10 years old. Now before anyone complains that they don't have anything that old, let me remind you that it's called RetroChallenge for a reason... besides which, if you can't muster up an old enough system, you can always use an emulator and enter the programming or creative challenges.
Oh, and the other difference is that there will be PRIZES this time... the winner of each challenge will receive an official RC2008 T-shirt or mouse pad (or both, if the budget allows).
Good Luck!
I don't know how much I'll be able to do with it, but I'm going to be loading OpenSTEP and NT4 on some old ThinkPads (760series), plus I've got the 180/520/520c around this year.
I may do more stuff in emulation than not though, because I'll be gone for the first half of July.
I may do more stuff in emulation than not though, because I'll be gone for the first half of July.
I'm going to use my Mac Plus. I want to accomplish the following:
1. Start a novel on it. MacWrite II would be the word processor I'd use.
2. Remember that book I wanted to write about Macs? How about I turn it into a HyperCard stack, programmed exclusively on a 9" screen at 8MHz.
Stretch Goal: Get it online solely for AIM. I don't care about WWW (since it wouldn't handle it well) or e-mail (I really don't read my e-mail that often, I finally got around to replying to some old e-mails today that were like a few weeks old) but I'd like to be able to use it to chat with friends. No idea if AIM would work on a Plus, maybe an old enough version would?
1. Start a novel on it. MacWrite II would be the word processor I'd use.
2. Remember that book I wanted to write about Macs? How about I turn it into a HyperCard stack, programmed exclusively on a 9" screen at 8MHz.
Stretch Goal: Get it online solely for AIM. I don't care about WWW (since it wouldn't handle it well) or e-mail (I really don't read my e-mail that often, I finally got around to replying to some old e-mails today that were like a few weeks old) but I'd like to be able to use it to chat with friends. No idea if AIM would work on a Plus, maybe an old enough version would?
Only tangentially related, but it would be cool to combine the challenge of retro with the challenge of writing a novel, and use the month of July as a sort of off-season nanowrimo challenge.
nanowrimo, at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ is "National Novel Writing Month" the goal of which is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.
You can notecard, outline, and brainstorm all you want, but you can't start writing until the actual month begins.
I may bring a 760 or the 520C with me [to Michigan] once I get those fixed up and start a writing project while I'm in michigan. the battery from the 760cd got about 3 hours of life and I think I could get 2-2.5 hours out of the 520c and my two strongest batteries.
nanowrimo, at http://www.nanowrimo.org/ is "National Novel Writing Month" the goal of which is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.
You can notecard, outline, and brainstorm all you want, but you can't start writing until the actual month begins.
I may bring a 760 or the 520C with me [to Michigan] once I get those fixed up and start a writing project while I'm in michigan. the battery from the 760cd got about 3 hours of life and I think I could get 2-2.5 hours out of the 520c and my two strongest batteries.
I like the idea!!! And to do it with MacWrite II would definitely sweeten the deal!!!
How about we use that as a sub-class of Retro Challenge...novel writing using any of the following word processors: any MacWrite, Word 1, 3, 4, or 5, WordPerfect 1 or 2, FullWrite, WriteNow, ClarisWorks 1, 2, or 3, MS Works 1, 2, or 3, or SimpleText. (Note that TeachText and early MacWrites have page limits that would make them impractical). Bonus points for illustrations created using MacPaint/SuperPaint/Kid Pix/FullPaint/DeskPaint or MacDraw/compatible.
Judging would be based on the following: the story itself, grammar and mechanics, organization of the novel, development of characters, illustrations, word processor used (obviously MacWrite II would score higher than Word 5).
Anyone like this idea? It would go great with novel writing month (big thanks to Cory for the inspiration behind this idea!)
How about we use that as a sub-class of Retro Challenge...novel writing using any of the following word processors: any MacWrite, Word 1, 3, 4, or 5, WordPerfect 1 or 2, FullWrite, WriteNow, ClarisWorks 1, 2, or 3, MS Works 1, 2, or 3, or SimpleText. (Note that TeachText and early MacWrites have page limits that would make them impractical). Bonus points for illustrations created using MacPaint/SuperPaint/Kid Pix/FullPaint/DeskPaint or MacDraw/compatible.
Judging would be based on the following: the story itself, grammar and mechanics, organization of the novel, development of characters, illustrations, word processor used (obviously MacWrite II would score higher than Word 5).
Anyone like this idea? It would go great with novel writing month (big thanks to Cory for the inspiration behind this idea!)
I don't think we really need a sub-class... it's already covered by the "creative" challenge, and could also be the focus of an "endurance" challenge.
Well that leaves the 8-bit crowd out... how about just "any word processor (or text editor) that runs on a qualifying system".
FWIW, if you're going to subject the judges to a full-length novel, it better be damned good ;-)
wow, the novel has to be good? For NaNoWriMo, it doesn't have to be good, nor do we even actually have to write it, although they frown upon copying and pasting.
The idea is that December is National Novel Writing Recovery Month, and January is National Novel Editing Moth. [
] ]'>
50,000 words is a lot, especially when you've got other things going on, and especially if you're doing it on an older computer. I should say that if you want to write a 50,000 word novel (that doesn't initially suck) on a 68k Mac (or any computer) by the end of July, the sooner you start might be better.
[comment about 1667 words/day)
The idea is that December is National Novel Writing Recovery Month, and January is National Novel Editing Moth. [
] ]'>50,000 words is a lot, especially when you've got other things going on, and especially if you're doing it on an older computer. I should say that if you want to write a 50,000 word novel (that doesn't initially suck) on a 68k Mac (or any computer) by the end of July, the sooner you start might be better.
[comment about 1667 words/day)
It challenges trust a little bit, but nano novels are judged purely on wordcount. In NaNo, there's only two states. "you win" which means youve achieved more than 50,000 words based on their word counting mechanism, or "you don't win" which means you didn't achieve 50,000 words.
It seems like coming up with a scoring system for creative challenges may be difficult, especially for something like a writing challenge, where most types of computers can do it just about equally. (i.e. there's no real hardship in novelwriting on a Mac Plus, as compared with novelwriting on an intel-based Mac.)
It seems like coming up with a scoring system for creative challenges may be difficult, especially for something like a writing challenge, where most types of computers can do it just about equally. (i.e. there's no real hardship in novelwriting on a Mac Plus, as compared with novelwriting on an intel-based Mac.)
Of course the individual judges will apply their own criteria, but I think the element of challenge is more important than the artistic quality of the result.
Personally I think writing a 50,000 word novel on a Mac Plus would be a great RetroChallenge entry... but if you want a real challenge try 50,000 words on a Newton MP100.
For RetroChallenge purposes the word count doesn't really matter, though I'm sure you could get some extra points by writing a program/script that would do the counting for you.Do any Lisa word processors have word counters? Other than transferring to a mac, going purely by pages, or counting by hand, how would you know? [
Hmmmm...come to think of it I DO have the Lisa developer's kit! Trouble is it's PASCAL based and I have never programmed in PASCAL.
The processor I would use is LisaWrite. It has a spell checker but I'm not sure of the word count function. I have to dig my Lisa out, haven't fired it up in a few years, and will check on that sometime.
Alternately I guess we could scan it in after printing it (on an Imagewriter I) and use OCR in a modern word processor.
Haven't used the Lisa keyboard much but it feels pretty good for long-term typing.
The processor I would use is LisaWrite. It has a spell checker but I'm not sure of the word count function. I have to dig my Lisa out, haven't fired it up in a few years, and will check on that sometime.
Alternately I guess we could scan it in after printing it (on an Imagewriter I) and use OCR in a modern word processor.
Haven't used the Lisa keyboard much but it feels pretty good for long-term typing.
If the LISA keyboard is anything like that of the original Mac, I would be comfortable writing my novel on it. I don't think my roommate would appreciate that though.
(Unrelated: I have considered getting an Extended II or a Model M and the appropriate USB adapter for my iMac. My roommate advised me that I shouldn't. I think he even put in a comment about how my iMac's current keyboard is very loud. [] ]'>
I've got my ThinkPad 760ED (or was it the EL? I always forget) configured now, with a nice keyboard. I'm going to put OpenSTEP 4.2 on there pretty soon, and I think I may use that for some challenging retro activities.
I may shuffle my summer retro novel-writing activities around between the PB180, the PB520c, and the two TP760s, I'm not 100% sure yet.
(Unrelated: I have considered getting an Extended II or a Model M and the appropriate USB adapter for my iMac. My roommate advised me that I shouldn't. I think he even put in a comment about how my iMac's current keyboard is very loud. [
] ]'>I've got my ThinkPad 760ED (or was it the EL? I always forget) configured now, with a nice keyboard. I'm going to put OpenSTEP 4.2 on there pretty soon, and I think I may use that for some challenging retro activities.
I may shuffle my summer retro novel-writing activities around between the PB180, the PB520c, and the two TP760s, I'm not 100% sure yet.
Oh I don't think it's that he feels like they're bad keyboards -- I just tend to get roommates that like sleeping. My roommate for the normal semester is fine, but my summer roommate is a very light sleeper, and I'm not sure he'd be able to sleep through me using the ThinkPad's keyboard. [] ]'>
] ]'>Haha, I know the feeling. I used to use an IBM Model M at school in study hall all the time and used to write stories on that particular computer. Let me tell you, the kids who were trying to read or take tests loved it I actually own that particular Model M today and took it into work for a while when I had a massive project to take care of and didn't want to use a mushy 2007-era HP keyboard. I got a lot of comments on its size, its noise, and its age. Stories of WordPerfect 5.1 and MS-DOS were shared--but my desktop picture was (and still is) a Mac Classic on that machine at work.
Anyways, I have decided to use the Plus and MacWrite II for my novel project. And yes, I will print it and send it to whoever is judging the RetroChallenge--or e-mail it after converting it to a more modern format. I would have used the Lisa, but I don't want to put excess wear and tear on the Widget hard drive since I'm trying to preserve it (especially since my system has the original box and manuals).
I'm also going to write it without any iPods. Instead, all music for inspiration will come from CDs. That's right, CDs. (I don't think most kids these days even know what CDs are, let alone records or tapes). Played on an Apple CD 300e connected to the Plus, they will be sure to stimulate my mind. Expect me to play a lot of Depeche Mode and ATB...especially since I found a CD containing "Enjoy the Silence: Quad Final Mix" at The Exchange, which I will probably buy at the end of the month when I get paid...
I have a lot of ideas for the novel and can't wait to start writing them!!!
I actually own that particular Model M today and took it into work for a while when I had a massive project to take care of and didn't want to use a mushy 2007-era HP keyboard. I got a lot of comments on its size, its noise, and its age. Stories of WordPerfect 5.1 and MS-DOS were shared--but my desktop picture was (and still is) a Mac Classic on that machine at work.Anyways, I have decided to use the Plus and MacWrite II for my novel project. And yes, I will print it and send it to whoever is judging the RetroChallenge--or e-mail it after converting it to a more modern format. I would have used the Lisa, but I don't want to put excess wear and tear on the Widget hard drive since I'm trying to preserve it (especially since my system has the original box and manuals).
I'm also going to write it without any iPods. Instead, all music for inspiration will come from CDs. That's right, CDs. (I don't think most kids these days even know what CDs are, let alone records or tapes). Played on an Apple CD 300e connected to the Plus, they will be sure to stimulate my mind. Expect me to play a lot of Depeche Mode and ATB...especially since I found a CD containing "Enjoy the Silence: Quad Final Mix" at The Exchange, which I will probably buy at the end of the month when I get paid...
I have a lot of ideas for the novel and can't wait to start writing them!!!
It is indeed possible. CD-ROM Toolkit on System 6 handles it just fine. Since the Plus has SCSI a CD-ROM is as connectable to it as it is a Power Mac 7200.
I will definitely work on a video, but only after I prepare some special audio for it...give me a few days on that.
I will definitely work on a video, but only after I prepare some special audio for it...give me a few days on that.
Corey, have you suggested he try using ear plugs to sleep? I have a friend from my college days who used them and, I think, still does.
The Keyboard II was very cool. My uni had Model M keyboards in its labs. It's a wonder anyone could think with all the clacking. I'd go to the Mac lab for peace and quiet instead.
The Keyboard II was very cool. My uni had Model M keyboards in its labs. It's a wonder anyone could think with all the clacking. I'd go to the Mac lab for peace and quiet instead.
Dru, yeah, actually my roommate probably could sleep through just about anything, at least my roommate from the normal school year.
My roommate over the summer wanted me to turn my iMac off because of the soft white glow from that little power indicator on the front, and says he can "barely sleep" when I use the ThinkPad. I daren't try to think of what would happen to him if I were in posession of a Model M or an AEK-II. [] ]'>
My roommate over the summer wanted me to turn my iMac off because of the soft white glow from that little power indicator on the front, and says he can "barely sleep" when I use the ThinkPad. I daren't try to think of what would happen to him if I were in posession of a Model M or an AEK-II. [
] ]'>Welp shut off the G4 Mac's last night at midnight and now the fun begins.
I'm thinking of getting my Duo 2300 working again. Well, correction, got it working, now to get my dock back out, get the internet/appletalk working again, and all that fun.
Have we all basically established that the Macintosh G3 Wallstreet (released May 1998) barely eeks into the ten year old bracket?
Not that I plan to use the Wallstreet too much, but would be a good legal fall back machine if I need to pull resources for my other retro machines.
I'm thinking of getting my Duo 2300 working again. Well, correction, got it working, now to get my dock back out, get the internet/appletalk working again, and all that fun.
Have we all basically established that the Macintosh G3 Wallstreet (released May 1998) barely eeks into the ten year old bracket?
Not that I plan to use the Wallstreet too much, but would be a good legal fall back machine if I need to pull resources for my other retro machines.RetroChallenge always seems to come up while I'm on vacation, I think RC2005 or 2004 (if there was a 2004) happened while I was on vacation to Michigan a few years ago, too. [] ]'>
Although thinking about it now, my ThinkPad 760ed (or was it the el?) would probably qualify, and that' snot too bad a system, XGA display, 133MHz Pentium, 72mb of ram, and [whatever hdd I put into it], running NT4 or 98se. [] ]'> All it lacks is photo processing software.
The scary thing is that one day, machines like the Pismo and the b/w G3 will be "old" enough for RetroChallenge. We'll see if there's anything too terribly massive that happens to the Internet in the next two years that'll make NT4 on the A21m too difficult to use as a main computer (minus photo processing, of course. I can shoot jpeg though, and use photoshop 4/5/ or 6.)
] ]'>Although thinking about it now, my ThinkPad 760ed (or was it the el?) would probably qualify, and that' snot too bad a system, XGA display, 133MHz Pentium, 72mb of ram, and [whatever hdd I put into it], running NT4 or 98se. [
] ]'> All it lacks is photo processing software.The scary thing is that one day, machines like the Pismo and the b/w G3 will be "old" enough for RetroChallenge. We'll see if there's anything too terribly massive that happens to the Internet in the next two years that'll make NT4 on the A21m too difficult to use as a main computer (minus photo processing, of course. I can shoot jpeg though, and use photoshop 4/5/ or 6.)
The Thinkpad is a great little machine and worth using. Love the cool foldout keyboard on the thinkpad.Although thinking about it now, my ThinkPad 760ed (or was it the el?) would probably qualify, and that' snot too bad a system, XGA display, 133MHz Pentium, 72mb of ram, and [whatever hdd I put into it], running NT4 or 98se. [
The scary thing is that one day, machines like the Pismo and the b/w G3 will be "old" enough for RetroChallenge.
There are actually a few G3's that I know of already available to use in the current Retrochallenge, and I might use some of these as "high end support/server machines"
1) The G3 Wallstreet.
2) The All-in-One
3) 8500... mine started with a 200 mhz 604, but has a 400 mhz G3 now.
the foldout keyboard was the 701 I think, also called the butterfly keyboard. My ThinkPad 760s have a nifty little pop-up keyboard that puts it at a good typing angle, but no butterfly action.
For this year's retrochallenge, the iMac G3 is actually almost there, another month and the original G3 iMac will be ten years old. Kind of amazing to think about.
For this year's retrochallenge, the iMac G3 is actually almost there, another month and the original G3 iMac will be ten years old. Kind of amazing to think about.
see, what with your winter warm ups and the old computer challenge and then running with this years summer games i thought you were now going to run it forever - you know, until you died!
i guess i need to think about that one then - along with others of course.
tum-te-tum
best get this one knocked of the head first tho-
R-C - HOE!!
(that was supposed to sound a little like 'thundercats')
i guess i need to think about that one then - along with others of course.
tum-te-tum
best get this one knocked of the head first tho-
R-C - HOE!!
(that was supposed to sound a little like 'thundercats')
LOL! Yeh that's about the truth. I was using the Wallstreet last nigt running 10.3.9 and wifi adaptor and you know, I barely missed my G4 12".
To me that just tells me how cool the technology is when ten years later the computer is very useful.
Anyway, working with my Mac Duo 2300 in system 8.6... took me a bit to get used to getting SimpleSound to record in a way that I had my G4 12" reocrding with QuickTime. First recording was 200 mb for a 19 minute recording. I then learned that if I turned it off CD quality and onto to voice quality that same recording is like 7 mb.
Not bad when you only have a 2 gig drive to begin with.Duo's were cool. Can't wait till I get my dock working again.
Oops. I completely forgot about the RC.
Unfortunately, with my new job, I couldn't do the endurance challenge, even if I tried. (Sort of a requirement to actually *USE* the products I'm doing support for. Although it would be funny when supporting a high-end server to tell the user that I use an original IBM PC (or some such) at home.)
Unfortunately, with my new job, I couldn't do the endurance challenge, even if I tried. (Sort of a requirement to actually *USE* the products I'm doing support for. Although it would be funny when supporting a high-end server to tell the user that I use an original IBM PC (or some such) at home.)
Heh. Missed the RetroChallenge again. Too bad, this year it was really interesting, since I already have some personal projects going on. In no particular order:
1. I'm using a PowerBook 5300ce as my second machine, trying to prove it's still a worthy Mac nowadays. It has 64 MB RAM, 1.1 GB hard disk, Ethernet and Wireless connectivity, a soon-to-come VST ZIP drive module. On the software front, I'm doing good with browsing (iCab 2.99, Opera 5, Netscape 3 and 4), email (Mailsmith 1.1.8!), connecting with my iDisk, editing images, writing, reading PDFs and so on.
2. I'm resurrecting a PowerBook 100, and since the internal hard drive is dead, I plan to create a 4 MB RAM disk (the PowerBook 100 had the feature of persistent RAM disks) and see if I can install System 6 and a few programs.
3. I'm expanding a book database in FileMaker 2.0 on my Colour Classic to catalogue all my books. Long project I started 8 months ago, more or less.
4. I'm writing a short story on a Cambridge Z88. No way to export it when it's finished, though.
Cheers,
Rick
1. I'm using a PowerBook 5300ce as my second machine, trying to prove it's still a worthy Mac nowadays. It has 64 MB RAM, 1.1 GB hard disk, Ethernet and Wireless connectivity, a soon-to-come VST ZIP drive module. On the software front, I'm doing good with browsing (iCab 2.99, Opera 5, Netscape 3 and 4), email (Mailsmith 1.1.8!), connecting with my iDisk, editing images, writing, reading PDFs and so on.
2. I'm resurrecting a PowerBook 100, and since the internal hard drive is dead, I plan to create a 4 MB RAM disk (the PowerBook 100 had the feature of persistent RAM disks) and see if I can install System 6 and a few programs.
3. I'm expanding a book database in FileMaker 2.0 on my Colour Classic to catalogue all my books. Long project I started 8 months ago, more or less.
4. I'm writing a short story on a Cambridge Z88. No way to export it when it's finished, though.
Cheers,
Rick