About

Welcome to my site of computer stuff, and randomness.

I’ve been involved with computers for a long time, back when I was a kid of about 10 dad brought home a computer. It was a Twinhead Superset 590, that naturally me and my brothers thought was pretty amazing. The first things we learned to do were pretty rudimentary, like writing in a word processor. I had no idea what the machine could really do.

Then we got some games.

Thinking back, the first game we got for it was Simcity, we spent hours building and demolishing cities. That first game hooked us in to a new world that could be anything. We could be a pilot in a stealth fighter, a wizard, or any number of other amazing things.

Then Dad got me a programming in BASIC book, it was actually for a different platform altogether. 30hr Basic from the BBC in the UK. It was enough to learn the basics of programming and started me on a journey to becoming a IT professional.

This website is where I will be writing about some of my experiences with computers, some new, some old. I take an interest in operating systems and games mostly, but I’ll pretty much write about whatever I’m currently reading about or working on. I often have small programming projects, or resurrect old projects, and I love to work on creating games.

I used to post roughly once a week, since I’ve started a youtube channel and have had some personal tragedy I’ve not been able to post regularly.

4 responses to “About”

  1. justinwl Avatar

    hey, for your screenshot captures from DOS games your using DOSBOX correct? I know most bloggers and people that do PC game reviews do. Its pretty rare I find stuff even on youtube that’s showing a game running on real hardware (at least stuff that’s not just pointing a digital cam at a screen). On the off chance your capturing VGA straight from your DOS PC what do you use?

    1. sparcie Avatar

      I am indeed using Dosbox because it is super easy to do and I can make screenshots or play a game when I’m not at home.

      I do also maintain a DOS machine, but I don’t have capture hardware appart from shooting the CRT with a camera. If I was going to capture from real hardware I’d use a VGA capture device. I’ve used a few at work and they give good results.

      Cheers
      Sparcie

      1. justinwl Avatar

        Ok, I thought so. thanks for the reply. I don’t know why I have an issue with using dosbox for screenshots. I think in my mind the image it gives is to perfect and I want to show how it actually would come across on certain video cards…but I think in the end I’m just nitpicking. taking images in dosbox is crazy easy and in actual dos crazy hard so maybe I’ll give in. A VGA capture card is something Ive considered but I just cant bring myself to drop over $100 on one, especially if I want a half decent one.

        1. sparcie Avatar

          No Problem!

          I’m a bit lazy, so that’s the other half of the reason I use Dosbox. That and it is compatible with more stuff than my one old machine can be. There is a bit of charm to an old CRT, but it is so difficult to capture well with a camera I never bothered.

          Cheers
          Sparcie

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