Notices by Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social), page 55

Bad Toys (Windows 3.x, 1995) #NotDOS
First, black & white version of the Czech shareware Windows first person shooter.

@anthk @keen456 "Current libre software port". My post was very specifically about vanilla Doom 2, as noted. Of course ports can do all this an more.

@anthk One could also just download a blu-ray rip since forever. That's not the point. The point is that it doesn't work out of the box, and the format's license prevents one from legally decrypting the files.

@mausmalone It did absolutely work at the time, although on my machine that I built in 2004 in anticipation of Half-Life 2 audio and video would eventually go out of sync.

Remember the 2003 "Extreme" DVD edition of Terminator 2: Judgement Day that came with a 720p HD version of the theatrical cut in a protected WMV9 format that is now completely useless?

@Dio9sys Christmas is a religious holiday, and with religion being illegal and all in the USSR the commercial aspect of the celebration got merged into New Years. All the same stuff. Food, tree, presents, Santa (Grandfather Frost), no school/work, etc.
(Orthodox Christmas is in January, so it wouldn't work anyway.)

@Dio9sys It's a New Year Tree star, but I was out of characters in the post already.

This ☭ xmas tree decoration was just a wire interspersed with lamp bulbs, plugged into a 220v outlet. When I was a kid ours broke, so I opened it up. 2 metal bits that held a bulb were bent, so I tried to bend them back, forgetting to unplug the thing. I grabbed both, 1 hand each, & completed the circuit with my body.
After a few moments of a feeling I will never forget, a breaker blew. I got away with a scare & cinged fingertips. If it lasted a bit longer I probably wouldn't be here today. 🤷

@stenpett Were you installing the original release, or does the 32-bit version still require WinG? I don't remember anymore.

@drwpow Well, this did make me install Knuckle Sandwich, which sadly did not ask me to install a 16-bit Windows library. 🤷♂️

@devlin I didn't have that one handy, so I downloaded an image to check it out, and yes, the 16 bit version indeed requires WinG

@devlin I'll be honest, I didn't recall Yoda Stories using WinG. So I checked the original disc, and it doesn't.

Doggo!

When was the last time a game installer asked you to do this?

Every once in a while I remember that the Windows 3.x first person shooter "Bad Toys 3D" from 1995 is still being sold for $9.95:
https://www.tibosoftware.com/bad-toys.htm

@c9a I think ISAM is just a generic term for that specific approach, while MyISAM is just one of the implementation of that approach.

It is (was?) considered both the first ever screen saver, and the use of the term "screen saver". But apparently Apple Lisa had a screen saver mode before this (someone please confirm or deny this), and the actual words "screen saver" don't appear in Socha's article.

SCRNSAVE.COM, the first ever (known) IBM PC screensaver.
Published by John Socha (of Norton Commander) in the December 1983 issue of the "Softalk for the IBM Personal Computer" magazine. Turns the screen off after 3 minutes of inactivity.

Interestingly, while ASM code listing is provided, along with it there's also a Basic program that generates a COM file from values with a simple error check for those without an assembler. Very nice.

I don't want to see a ghost
It's a sight that I fear most
I'd rather have a piece of toast
And watch the evening news

🔊🎵 #OPL3MIDI

@metin @lashman I mean, I guess, but if we're gonna go through every brown castle in an 80s computer game in the 32/16 color Amiga/Atari ST era, we're gonna be here all day.