*** Aquarium Ships! *** - Page 3

Cobra · 11-28-2001, 01:44 AM

I wonder why Jim wants the installer to fit on a floppydisk in times of where allmost everyone seems to have a cdwriter and/or broadband internet? *g* Besides:

Intel to kill floppy drives, serial ports next year
By Tony Smith
Posted: 04/10/2001 at 10:53 GMT

Intel is finally inciting the death of the floppy drive and is calling on PC manufacturers big and small to stop supplying the once-capacious 1.44MB removable drive in the latter half of 2002.

So say confidential Intel documents seen by The Register. The chip giant wants OEMs to phase out the floppy in the second half of 2002. It hopes they will pull the plug - as it were - on PS/2 and serial ports at the same time.

[...]

;-)

Jav400 · 11-28-2001, 08:40 AM

Cobra,

We have had this discussion many times before, and here is the answer provided by Jim Sachs:

The program must fit on a floppy. Each time I make a programming change (between 20 and 50 times a day), I have to put the program on a floppy to test it on all my different machines. Most of my sales are to foreign countries, and the vast majority of those machines only have floppy drives. As always, users are allowed to copy the Aquarium to all of their computers, not just ones with Internet connections. In fact, I insist that they try it on the target computers to make sure it works before purchasing a Key Code.

feldon34 · 11-28-2001, 08:54 AM

Jim is investigating wireless Ethernet for each of his development machines but I haven't heard anything definitive yet. 802.11b works really well, my dad has 3 printers and 2 computers networked that way.

Re: Slampman's comment, the 3D background *is* coming and I figure the free 'goodie' will be a coral shrimp or something similar. Jim is working independantly of Prolific. Prolific is working on the Installer, etc. while Jim has been working on the 3D background.

feldon34 · 11-28-2001, 02:33 PM

INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS DELETED

Tiny Turtle, we try to keep a friendly forum here.

Cobra · 11-29-2001, 03:36 AM

Hey, what´s going on here? Think posivite everyone...

Well, i have read Jims previous posts before, Michael. But as Morgan (and Jim) says... He has nothing to do with developing the installer. So i think this quote was about the screensaverprogramm itself which fits perfektly on a floppydisk, doesn´t it?

However, i wonder why Jim doesn´t use an ordinary Ethernet? Too much cable in his 'laboratory'?

Wintergreetings from Germany

Alex

Jav400 · 11-29-2001, 06:53 AM

Cobra,

At this point it does fit on a floppy very well. I think that some of the considerations are towards the future. By the time the full double width 3D background is added, and then the Specialty Fish and the Specialty Invertebrates, not to mention a few additions to the actual program itself, then you will have a harder time being able to contain the complete program on a floppy.

Lightfeather · 11-29-2001, 04:47 PM

I use my floppy drive all the time. I also only have a 56k modem at home. I think one of the nice things about this program is that is it so beautiful and that it "fits on a floppy".

It makes it easy to share with friends. Put it on a disk and decorate the label sticker and give them a check for 20 bucks (or buy them their own code and put it on the disk with notepad) and you have excellent Christmas gifts. I plan on buying red and green floppies for Christmas. Stocking stuffers!!

Because I am a dork like that. ^_^

Jim Sachs · 11-29-2001, 06:35 PM

Your use of the Aquarium is EXACTLY the model I was going for. I was hoping that everyone would put it on floppies and give it to all their friends. That's why I designed it to work as a 3-fish demo without a Key Code. Computer stores, petshops, and other businesses can give away floppies as "perks" to their customers, but wouldn't take the time and expense of cutting CDs.

A month ago I bought a Sony Vaio slimtop, the first computer I've ever had with no floppy drive. I hate it. After a week of my daughter typing in school reports and cutting CDs to move them to one of the other computers which has a printer, the CD-ROM drive went out. DVD's still played, but it wouldn't recognize CDs, CD-Rs, or CD-RWs. So I disconnected a printer and moved it into that room, hoping to print directly from the Vaio. Couldn't install it, because the printer drivers are on CD. So I tried hooking up a network cable to download the text file to another Computer. "Please insert your WinME CD." I ended up having to type the whole report manually into another computer while reading it off the screen of the Vaio.

That was 3 weeks ago, and since then I spend most of my time on the phone listening to the busy signal at Sony "Support". I have never once been able to get through.

The point being that even though the $400 DVD/CD/CD-R/CDRW drive is broken, the computer would still be perfectly usable if it only had a $9 floppy drive (and the 3D background would be much farther along).

The_Thrill · 11-29-2001, 07:32 PM

Aw What a Dad!

ziggy · 12-07-2001, 05:56 AM

FYI - I've solved the 'white texture' graphics problem a few days ago by replacing my voodoo5 with a Radeon 8500...

The aquarium runs absolutely flawless now, so it was well worth to spend the $300

pipeta · 12-07-2001, 06:40 AM

Although I have a 56k modem because ADSL is still too expenssive in Israel I usually use it to download anything (even hundreds of megs for movies) because I have an unlimited connection for a constant price. That's what most of my friends do.
Jim, does your daugter's computer have no modem\ADSL? It's hard to imagine a computer like that these days.
AND if that was the problem you could still move a CD player from another computer in a few minutes.

Tiny Turtle · 12-07-2001, 07:47 AM

<Pipeta:> How do you mean move a CD player? I'd be really surprised if the Vaio "slimtop" had a 5.25" slot.

pipeta · 12-07-2001, 07:52 AM

Oh, guess I missed that piece of information.

Jim Sachs · 12-07-2001, 09:41 AM

The CD player in the Slimtop is very tightly integrated. Even though I've taken the outer case off, I still can't see the heads of the screws which hold it in, even with mirrors. They actually seem to be from inside the unit, going outward into the frame.

Today marks the 1 month anniversary of my trying to get through to Sony support. I sent them another e-mail, and they replied that I should just keep trying. The WinXP disk for this machine arrived in the mail yesterday, but of course I can't install it without a CDROM drive.

feldon34 · 12-07-2001, 10:08 AM

If she can live without for a week or two, there are Sony authorized repair places in every major city.

Sony Ind Svc Ctr
1302 E Chapman Ave
Fullerton, CA 92831-3954
Phone: (714)879-9240
Map

Sony Electronics Inc
14450 Myford Rd
Irvine, CA 92606-1001
Phone: (714)549-4833
MAP

Sony Electronics Inc
4100 W Riverside Dr
Burbank, CA 91505-4143
Phone: (818)842-7669
Map

Jim Sachs · 12-07-2001, 10:54 AM

According to the emails, they won't work on it without telephone authorization.

BladeRunner · 12-10-2001, 07:29 AM

My dealings with Crappy Sony walkmans and other Sony stuff in the late 80's put me off the company. May have changed, but they were never interested in fixing anything just selling the next model.

Still you got a while to go Jim before you beat my Asus dealings.

Took me over 6 months to get a replacement fan for an Asus v7700 GTS. That included continual e-mailing every asus dept and posting on every asus forum and newsgroup on and off for that six month period.

The sad thing is the actual sofware that comes with the card informs you when the fan is dead and says you should replace it.
It doesn't say how you are supposed to though.

Jav400 · 12-10-2001, 09:22 AM

Well thats not any fun. I agree with the statements about the walkmans, I had on of those that I had troubles with also. A friend of mine owns an electronic repair shop, and when I asked him about fixing it, he told me that unfortunately it would be difficult to get the replacement parts, and even doing it at cost for me, it would be better just to get another one.
I have had decent sucess with their CD decks and a 32" TV that I have had for some time. Good Luck Jim

11-28-2001, 08:40 AM	#42
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Cobra, We have had this discussion many times before, and here is the answer provided by Jim Sachs: The program must fit on a floppy. Each time I make a programming change (between 20 and 50 times a day), I have to put the program on a floppy to test it on all my different machines. Most of my sales are to foreign countries, and the vast majority of those machines only have floppy drives. As always, users are allowed to copy the Aquarium to all of their computers, not just ones with Internet connections. In fact, I insist that they try it on the target computers to make sure it works before purchasing a Key Code. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

11-28-2001, 08:54 AM	#43
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	Jim is investigating wireless Ethernet for each of his development machines but I haven't heard anything definitive yet. 802.11b works really well, my dad has 3 printers and 2 computers networked that way. Re: Slampman's comment, the 3D background is coming and I figure the free 'goodie' will be a coral shrimp or something similar. Jim is working independantly of Prolific. Prolific is working on the Installer, etc. while Jim has been working on the 3D background. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

11-28-2001, 02:33 PM	#44
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS DELETED Tiny Turtle, we try to keep a friendly forum here. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 11-28-2001 at 04:08 PM.

11-29-2001, 06:53 AM	#46
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Cobra, At this point it does fit on a floppy very well. I think that some of the considerations are towards the future. By the time the full double width 3D background is added, and then the Specialty Fish and the Specialty Invertebrates, not to mention a few additions to the actual program itself, then you will have a harder time being able to contain the complete program on a floppy. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

11-29-2001, 04:47 PM	#47
Lightfeather Occupation: Nerd Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: California Posts: 314	I use my floppy drive all the time. I also only have a 56k modem at home. I think one of the nice things about this program is that is it so beautiful and that it "fits on a floppy". It makes it easy to share with friends. Put it on a disk and decorate the label sticker and give them a check for 20 bucks (or buy them their own code and put it on the disk with notepad) and you have excellent Christmas gifts. I plan on buying red and green floppies for Christmas. Stocking stuffers!! Because I am a dork like that. ^_^ Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

11-28-2001, 01:44 AM	#41
Cobra Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Germany, Bamberg Posts: 13	I wonder why Jim wants the installer to fit on a floppydisk in times of where allmost everyone seems to have a cdwriter and/or broadband internet? g Besides: Intel to kill floppy drives, serial ports next year By Tony Smith Posted: 04/10/2001 at 10:53 GMT Intel is finally inciting the death of the floppy drive and is calling on PC manufacturers big and small to stop supplying the once-capacious 1.44MB removable drive in the latter half of 2002. So say confidential Intel documents seen by The Register. The chip giant wants OEMs to phase out the floppy in the second half of 2002. It hopes they will pull the plug - as it were - on PS/2 and serial ports at the same time. [...] ;-)

11-29-2001, 03:36 AM	#45
Cobra Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Germany, Bamberg Posts: 13	Hey, what´s going on here? Think posivite everyone... Well, i have read Jims previous posts before, Michael. But as Morgan (and Jim) says... He has nothing to do with developing the installer. So i think this quote was about the screensaverprogramm itself which fits perfektly on a floppydisk, doesn´t it? However, i wonder why Jim doesn´t use an ordinary Ethernet? Too much cable in his 'laboratory'? Wintergreetings from Germany Alex

11-29-2001, 06:35 PM	#48
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	Your use of the Aquarium is EXACTLY the model I was going for. I was hoping that everyone would put it on floppies and give it to all their friends. That's why I designed it to work as a 3-fish demo without a Key Code. Computer stores, petshops, and other businesses can give away floppies as "perks" to their customers, but wouldn't take the time and expense of cutting CDs. A month ago I bought a Sony Vaio slimtop, the first computer I've ever had with no floppy drive. I hate it. After a week of my daughter typing in school reports and cutting CDs to move them to one of the other computers which has a printer, the CD-ROM drive went out. DVD's still played, but it wouldn't recognize CDs, CD-Rs, or CD-RWs. So I disconnected a printer and moved it into that room, hoping to print directly from the Vaio. Couldn't install it, because the printer drivers are on CD. So I tried hooking up a network cable to download the text file to another Computer. "Please insert your WinME CD." I ended up having to type the whole report manually into another computer while reading it off the screen of the Vaio. That was 3 weeks ago, and since then I spend most of my time on the phone listening to the busy signal at Sony "Support". I have never once been able to get through. The point being that even though the $400 DVD/CD/CD-R/CDRW drive is broken, the computer would still be perfectly usable if it only had a $9 floppy drive (and the 3D background would be much farther along). Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium Last edited by Jim Sachs; 11-29-2001 at 06:38 PM.

11-29-2001, 07:32 PM	#49
The_Thrill Nittany Lion Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: State College Posts: 49	Aw What a Dad! Thrill

12-07-2001, 05:56 AM	#50
ziggy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 11	FYI - I've solved the 'white texture' graphics problem a few days ago by replacing my voodoo5 with a Radeon 8500... The aquarium runs absolutely flawless now, so it was well worth to spend the $300

12-07-2001, 06:40 AM	#51
pipeta Royal Gramma Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Israel Posts: 146	Although I have a 56k modem because ADSL is still too expenssive in Israel I usually use it to download anything (even hundreds of megs for movies) because I have an unlimited connection for a constant price. That's what most of my friends do. Jim, does your daugter's computer have no modem\ADSL? It's hard to imagine a computer like that these days. AND if that was the problem you could still move a CD player from another computer in a few minutes.

12-07-2001, 07:47 AM	#52
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	cd player move? <Pipeta:> How do you mean move a CD player? I'd be really surprised if the Vaio "slimtop" had a 5.25" slot.

12-07-2001, 07:52 AM	#53
pipeta Royal Gramma Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Israel Posts: 146	Oh, guess I missed that piece of information.

12-07-2001, 09:41 AM	#54
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	The CD player in the Slimtop is very tightly integrated. Even though I've taken the outer case off, I still can't see the heads of the screws which hold it in, even with mirrors. They actually seem to be from inside the unit, going outward into the frame. Today marks the 1 month anniversary of my trying to get through to Sony support. I sent them another e-mail, and they replied that I should just keep trying. The WinXP disk for this machine arrived in the mail yesterday, but of course I can't install it without a CDROM drive. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-07-2001, 10:08 AM	#55
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	If she can live without for a week or two, there are Sony authorized repair places in every major city. Sony Ind Svc Ctr 1302 E Chapman Ave Fullerton, CA 92831-3954 Phone: (714)879-9240 Map Sony Electronics Inc 14450 Myford Rd Irvine, CA 92606-1001 Phone: (714)549-4833 MAP Sony Electronics Inc 4100 W Riverside Dr Burbank, CA 91505-4143 Phone: (818)842-7669 Map "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 12-07-2001 at 10:13 AM.

12-07-2001, 10:54 AM	#56
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	According to the emails, they won't work on it without telephone authorization. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-10-2001, 07:29 AM	#57
BladeRunner Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Norwich UK Posts: 37	My dealings with Crappy Sony walkmans and other Sony stuff in the late 80's put me off the company. May have changed, but they were never interested in fixing anything just selling the next model. Still you got a while to go Jim before you beat my Asus dealings. Took me over 6 months to get a replacement fan for an Asus v7700 GTS. That included continual e-mailing every asus dept and posting on every asus forum and newsgroup on and off for that six month period. The sad thing is the actual sofware that comes with the card informs you when the fan is dead and says you should replace it. It doesn't say how you are supposed to though. Last edited by BladeRunner; 12-10-2001 at 07:32 AM.

12-10-2001, 09:22 AM	#58
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Well thats not any fun. I agree with the statements about the walkmans, I had on of those that I had troubles with also. A friend of mine owns an electronic repair shop, and when I asked him about fixing it, he told me that unfortunately it would be difficult to get the replacement parts, and even doing it at cost for me, it would be better just to get another one. I have had decent sucess with their CD decks and a 32" TV that I have had for some time. Good Luck Jim Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection