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!
Heh, just sent you my entry form!
Boo-YA!
i now need to go and change my under garments i am just soo excited!
nice page too - very nice to have the wee picture links at the side - gives it a bit of heritage.
let battle commence!
( in an 'all friends together sort of way')
i now need to go and change my under garments i am just soo excited!
nice page too - very nice to have the wee picture links at the side - gives it a bit of heritage.
let battle commence!
( in an 'all friends together sort of way')
Ugh, I really want to enter this, but not sure what to do :-\
When are the entries due by?
When are the entries due by?
Well the contest runs July 1 - 31, so you've got about 5 weeks to plan and then a month to do something. I'm sure you can figure something out ;-)
So I can use my Beige G3? 
Supposedly it came out 11 years ago.
If I can get my 8100/110 working again I'll use that instead. Still trying to figure out what to do as a project.
Supposedly it came out 11 years ago.If I can get my 8100/110 working again I'll use that instead. Still trying to figure out what to do as a project.
Woo, this time of year again! Count me in, I'll send in my entry once I've thought of what I want to do. Hopefully I can get the organ involved somehow...
Love the RC page btw.
Love the RC page btw.
well, im in with pentium desktop and laptop, pb 1400, m102, and my c64! (might also add my 6100)
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 ;-)
Hmmm... maybe I'll dig out my copy of Allwrite! for my Model 4p and join in the fun! 
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)
Well, considering judging will take place over a weekend, I guess it's unlikely that it will actually get read in its entirety. I suggest a strong start and a riveting last page.
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.
luddite, you must have some thing for torture. Hand writing all that? :S I can already feel the writers cramp :/
Thinking the Challenge was in June, I just rushed to get my entry in.
Anyway, I haven't been around much lately, and am looking forward to the challenge in order to get me to focus back on some 68k stuff.
Nathan
Anyway, I haven't been around much lately, and am looking forward to the challenge in order to get me to focus back on some 68k stuff.
Nathan
How about a 50K word novel on a LISA???
How do you think books were written in the days before typewriters and computers?
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? [
] ]'>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.
Tell him to type on either the Model M or Extended II. He will definitely reconsider after using them.
The IIGS Keyboard is nice if you're short on space. Good tactile feel on that one.
The IIGS Keyboard is nice if you're short on space. Good tactile feel on that one.
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!!!