hansolo77

Sorry my computer took a nose dive and needed replacement ram. I'm back up and running now, going through checking my sites out. How is the gun? Did you get it working?

Hope not.

Yeah my original order was lost in customs and had to be re-issued out. Still waiting for that original package.

Bruce Willis really started doing some crazy Sci-Fi stuff lately. Nothing HUGE, like OMG I gotta go see it. But a lot of weird one-offs.

Link worked ok for me. I'm kinda both ways on this. Part of me is shocked that it will never be again. I always hoped to go one day, see the new tech and games before anybody else. It was not only a place for bragging, but a way for companies to entice competition and see what others are developing. But on the other hand, I can see how Covid really slapped people in the face and the big companies not wanting to expose themselves to it if they can avoid it. There are other ways to get news of your product out, just not as big and hands on. I really don't know how I feel about this. I'm "slad"... glad but sad. LOL.

That's exactly how it works... it draws the white boarder when you run the game, it's not visible any other way. But, I suppose that could change depending on the software. As far as Batocera is concerned, they have it rendering when games are running. You can probably enable it for other things in Windows, through some configuration or something. But I suspect you're wanting it just in games and not all the time, which is exactly how it's done.

Good choice. I have two black ones. No pedals. I know it's not becoming of me to be supporting other frontends, but I use Batocera on my Atari VCS and the last version released included direct support for the Sinden guns. It's literally plug and play. I haven't tried connecting both guns simultaneously, I read there are possible issues with it because of the power draw. I don't know if the Atari VCS would be capable of it. But so far, everything I tried playing with it works great. Playing on my 70-inch 4K about 5 feet away, no discernable range issues. I guess my only limitation is that the VCS doesn't really have much "under the hood", so games like Carnevil or House of the Dead might not run very well. But that's not an issue related to the gun. I like it! Really awesome to play Duck Hunt, Area 51, and Time Crisis again.

Yea I thought about going that route, and maybe even buy the system the pfSense guys sell. Honestly, I don't even know why i went through route of a server, but i'm glad i did. It works for me at least.

$ $ $ $ $ $

+1 to pfSense. I'm still learning, but it's a very strong commercial grade router. I bought a used 1U server off ebay that came driveless. Installed a small 120gb (overkill by far) SSD and I was off to the races. For $189, it beats the pants off those off-the-shelf routers. It has 6x10Gbe ports, great for future expansion should I get Fiber some time, and good for 10Gbe between network devices directly. Port forwarding has been a trip learning, but that's half the fun. I still have the old trusty standby if I screw something up. But pfSense lets you backup, experiment, restore if something craps out. And it has a ton of plugins and addons. They have OpenVPN, which I setup a server on, and now I can connect remotely to my home network super simple. They also do OpenVPN clients, so you can configure it with your VPN service (like the IPVanish service I have). Without even worrying, my router is always connected to the VPN, meaning all my devices are too! They have other addons too, like AdGuard, to do advanced DNS blocking like Pi-Hole. I'm really loving it. Here's a more recent listing for the hardware I'm using: https://www.ebay.com/itm/133772637020

So seeing how this thread has reopened.. I never updated. I'm moved in to my own place, fully unpacked and live the bachelor's life. Of course, the first thing I did when I got the keys was go out and find the best internet I could get in my price range. As a new subscriber, I was offered all the perks from everybody. But, as it turned out, AT&T was NOT fiber, but DSL. We had DSL before and it's crap. It's only slightly better than dialup. So they're out. Breezeline was next up. They topped out at 500mb standard coax. Better than dialup, and better than I was getting at the time living with the old folks. They killed me there... we paid extra for more speed but only got like an extra 2% because "the distance to the hub is too far". Going with Breezeline I would have gotten an extra 150mb speed, but for about $75 a month. Then I plugged in my address to Spectrum. Yeah, that's what we had before, and my address was more "outskirts" than the previous one... but who knows where their hub is? Gave it a shot and BAM! They offered 1gb coax for $69/month. I bought my modem so I would be hit with the extra rental fee. They told me the modem is free, but one of my coworkers lives in the same apartment complex and said he has to rent his for like $10 a month. Spectrum tried to throw in all these extra perks like 30-days free phone service and 30-days free HBO. I'm like "nah I just need internet" so they chopped off $25 for the first month. It was fun watching the guy try to install it. Since I had my own modem, the instructions were simply to plug it in and connect to their website to begin the registration (mac address, etc). Didn't work. Turns out, even after the guy came out, I have 5 cable outlets in the apartment but only ONE (the master bedroom) was connected to anything. I tried all of them too before I called. What he discovered, besides the single outlet, was that the cable coming into the building was disconnected outside (probably to get a competitor connected. He plugged in THEIR line, used his cool magic wand tool to trace the signal through the apartment, and found where it was coming out. We got set up in about 30 minutes after that. Unfortunately, my server and router and stuff was going in the side bedroom. There were no outlets in that room at all. Spectrum said they would install outlets in any room I wanted service for no charge. However, this guy said "no way" because it would require "construction" and I'd have to have the apartment complex's facilities come in to demo a wall so he could run the line from the master room to the spare. Ok, fine.. can you at least run a cable through the walls and just hide the cable up over a door or something? Sure! He took out a 12-inch drill bit and ran a cable from the side wall of the master bedroom and drilled it into back closet wall of the spare. Done and done. He stayed long enough to check signal strength and clarity and was on his way. I now have 1gb internet, and it only costs me $69 a month. Dad's is running about $350 with all his "discounted bundle" of digital cable and digital phone. Hehe, don't feel sorry. And to share my results, remember my 366mb from April: This is my new speed (it's not doing it's greatest right now, weather has been kinda cranky): Oh yeah and I built my own router back before I moved out. It runs pfSense. I set it up to have an "always on" VPN connection to IPVanish ($5/month), so that causes a little bit of a speed drop and latency. But I'm happy with it!

As a donator and pre-build indigogo backer for the Atari VCS, I was given 1 year of free service to Anstream. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed. A lot of the issues came with the interface and usability with the VCS. The game feels were interesting, but I never used it. My own emulation collection has everything I need. I had hoped it would develop into something more, with an ability to have a friends list and play multiplayer games together. I've actually not thought more about it, even though I'm subscribed to their mailing list.

Every single one of those pictures make me wish I had money. Even the chick at the end.

Laserdisc is something I've never been able to emulate. Near as I can tell though, they work with 1 very long and erratic video file and a bunch of software that jumps around in that video as needed. When I said I needed seizure medication, it was meant as a joke. But I'm pretty sure that all laserdisc games are the same like that.

Looks cool but I think I need seizure medication.

Nice! Got 'em all already though.

I've thought about assisted living for him for years. But the way he is, he'd be too stubborn to even consider it. If he can't be in his own home, and be able to watch what he wants to watch, and not be told left and right what to do, he ain't gonna do it. On the plus side of things though, as fate would have it. I got a call from the rental office lady this morning checking to see if I'm still interested in an apartment. She said somebody had just moved out, and a unit will be available some in mid May. I told her I was, and she said she'd start the process of background checks, etc. I'm excited now! This also gives me a good idea of when I should be finished packing. Even though we had the fire, and I lost everything, I've managed to recollect a bunch of stuff since. I have 2 bookcases in my room full of books and movies. One of them is packed, the other is kinda blocked and I'll have to work to get to, but I got a month. Plus, if everything goes as planned, I might be completely moved by my next vacation, which is the last week of May. I won't be moving in the winter, and the summer heat hopefully won't be full on yet. Things are going!

You guys are making me jealous. I can't wait to move and get better internet. The problem I have with where I live is the community. I've talked about it before. They have a contract with Spectrum in that they were able to get a discount when it was first installed to the community by agreeing to a monopoly and now allowing competitors in. So we're locked to ONLY Spectrum and no way to change it. I could, in theory, get something like StarLink, but their speeds aren't worth it (yet). I hear they're getting better, and will be launching a huge upgrade in the near future. But right now, our ISP sucks. It likes to drop connections randomly (at the modem, not router/switch/etc). And the speed is laughable at the cost. We're paying almost $300 a month (bundled with tv and phone). It's just crazy. When I get my own place, I'm internet only. And the prices and speeds available definitely make me more ready. @Draco1962 I don't remember how to hide this nonsense, so if any of admins don't like my spam, please hide the following if you know how! No offense taken. I am definitely sticking by my dad. I just have to be ready and its long over due. The trigger pulling actually came as a result of my step-mom getting sick. She started coughing one day while I was at work. She started to panic, unable to breathe, and called a squad to take her to the ER. They kept her in the hospital for 3 days for observation. I came home from work that day and dad was hollering for help. I came upstairs to see what was wrong.. I mean he was literally YELLING for help. I get up there and he's like "I don't need YOUR help, I asked for Louise, get the F^CK out of here!" I told him I just got home, haven't seen her, don't know where she is, and thanked him for the warm welcome home. I then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening listening to help yelling for her for HOURS, at the top of the stairs, not getting any response. I was off work the next day so I stayed up late. Around midnight she calls me to see if I can feed the cats thinking dad would have forgot, and told me she was in the hospital. He had know idea even though he was there when she left. Then the next day, he's at it again, screaming for her to help, and getting pissed because she's "ignoring him". I had to tell him shes in the hospital and he starts breaking down crying, not knowing, and getting really scared for her. I told him she's and just being observed. Later that morning she called me to let me know he had a doctor's appointment at 1 and I needed to take him since she's in the hospital. I went to tell him, and it was repeats all over again. He didn't know where she was, didn't know she was sick, and didn't know he had an appointment. I told him he needed to get ready to leave by 12:30. He said it's like 3 hours away, and shoved me off, and continued to watch tv and drink his southern comfort. 12:00 comes around and I check on him, he's still not ready, and forgot all about it. Forgot she was in the hospital again, and fell to pieces. I told him to turn the tv off and lets get ready. He had to go to the bathroom, gets up, and pees himself (yeah this is a new problem, because they found he had prostate cancer, and hes been recovering but lost a lot of his urinary control (the unrinologist is actually who we're going to see)). So now it's almost 12:30 and he's still in the bathroom. I told him we had to get going, the appointment is in 30 minutes. He procrastinates again, getting out around 12:45, but then goes and sits back down in the living room. I'm like "Dad, where are you doing, we have to GO!" and he's like "oh yea", stands up, and pees himself again. So I help him get a change of clothes out, and new underwear, all ready. Takes him 5 minutes to get upstairs (now it's 12:50) he sits on the bed to start changing, and takes everything off then swings around and lays on his back. I'm like "Dad what are you doing? We have to go, your appointment is in like 10 minutes!" He forgot he was going to the doctor, and thought he was going to bed. I told him AGAIN, and then he started getting dressed. I called Louise at the hospital and asked if we could maybe postpone his appointment, and she said he's good until 1:30 at the latest. I go back and check on dad, and he can't get his belt on. So I help him and say "lets go!" Then he realizes he didn't put on the clean underwear. I was like "Dad just leave it, we have to go!" And he just flips a switch and says "i'm not going anywhere!" and rolls back onto the bed. I'm starting to panic now, it's 1:15. I'm like "fine dad, you don't have to do anything but just lay there and I'll call the doctor and have them cancel the appointment"... "what appointment? what doctor? what are you talking about?!" I told him he had an appointment 15 minutes ago that we missed because he's spent the last hour getting ready and hes still not ready, even though I told him 3 hours ago to get ready. He's then all "oh shit, we need to go!" By now I've gone and cancelled the appointment. He then comes downstairs, and is like "Do you know where Louise is?" OMG! Then I say "lets go see her, she's in the hospital" and he breaks down and cries again. We get to the hospital, takes him 10 minutes to cross the parking log because he can barely walk (spends all day drinking and watching tv, not doing anything, and Louise supports this lifestyle and even buys his liquor for him.) He refuses, but the nurse insisted he use a wheel chair. After a verbal assault of swearing nonsense, he succumbs and takes the free ride, complaining the whole time about the chair being so uncomfortable. Finally get him to her room (she's sharing) and all of a sudden everything is hunky dory. Jokingly tells me to leave so he can "flirt" with her. And the guy with the girl next door left with me. I spent an hour in the hall waiting, and then he calls "where are you? I need a ride home from the hospital" and I'm like "you told me to leave" and he had completely forgotten. Anyway, an hour after we get home, he's asking me again "Have you seen Louise?" OMG. That was ONE DAY. The next day, she was still in the hospital, and I HAD to go to work. Luckily this time, I made sure to plug his phone in next to his chair so if she called him he could talk to her. And sure enough she did, and he was able to answer this time. I came home from work to an empty house because he went to see her again. He came home after his usual bedtime, then helped himself to some more liquor and drank himself stupid. I got up the next morning to go to work and he was passed out on the floor. I woke him up joking that he would more comfortable in bed. Helped him upstairs and into bed. I then went to work. At some point he woke up and picked her up at the hospital and all was good. I told myself THEN that I'm moving out, and not dealing with that anymore. Louise helps him with everything, he's like a child now. I can't stay here, with my own mental illness, and see him crumble away like this. I plan on coming by to do laundry routinely though, so I'm not abandoning him. But the way he his, his memory, and his attitude, his drinking, I just have to let Louise deal with it all. And I have to be prepared anyway. If he passes while I'm still here, she's already planning on Day #2 = eviction of me. So I need to get it done sooner than later.

I put in for a down payment/application fee for my first ever apartment (finally moving out.. can't deal with my Dad's memory regression and my unhelpful stepmom anymore). I asked what internet options are available. She said she personally uses a 5g hotspot and doesn't need anything else. I'm like . But she said Breezeline (wide open west), spectrum (what I currently have) and AT&T are all available. I'm hoping it's AT&T Fiber. I won't know for sure until I get the keys. So I don't even know what address to plug into the various website to see what's truly offered. Kinda sucks. Also kinda sucks it's now (as of today) been 1 month and I've not heard anything. I'm going to follow up on my first day off after the weekend. She said people come and go all the time, and she's got some people on their eviction list (waiting for a late payment/etc) so it could be any time. Here's my current connection. Not sure what it's advertised as though, I don't have access to find out.

It said if you buy/own the game (digital) you can still get the game from their marketplace/cloud. You just won't be able to buy it. But yea, digital sucks with this. Physical copies you physically own and will always be able to buy. Personally, I don't understand their motives. If you can still get the game if you bought it before, why disable the ability to buy it now? Aren't companies like this built to MAKE SELLS?

Yeah, I went in to work today. Found out the person I was supposed to close with called off because she was going to a party (which was approved because she was the only one that called off). So I ended up working all night, by myself. Not only a "holiday" evening, but also a "big" football day, with our local college team in a bowl game. The store manager, of course, demanded we stay open, and have fresh chickens, 8pc, and wings available all night. It's all about the money, they don't care about the work involved. And rather than try to help, call somebody in, etc, they just said "deal with it" or "sucks to be you" and left me to the wolves. Busy night, the store was packed. Lines of people wanting their corned beef (new years) and fried chicken, party trays, blah blah blah. I'm exhausted. So yeah, enjoy your New Year's parties. Enjoy your hanging out with friends and/or family, and don't forget about your junk food and ignore the fact that there's just one guy working. But make sure to share your frustration with the one guy that IS there.. rather than call the corporate office and complain about the greed of the CEO giving himself a 6-figure raise while cutting hours and staff in the stores. But anyway, I will say I'm glad this year is over (except in the business world we're just about start the 13th month of the fiscal year). Hope you all, and me, have a better year next year.

I'm still waiting for my delivery. I ordered it right after I posted about considering it. I wasn't aware it had been "mass produced" until now, so I'm late on the bandwagon. But, like I said, still waiting. It was listed as "shipped" but the Royal Mail whose handling the shipping had not updated to say they'd even received it for about 3 weeks. I reached out to the Sinden staff and they reassured me it had been shipped but might have been scanned into the Royal Mail system yet. The, as luck would have it, the very next day Royal Mail updated and said they were going to have delays because they're going on strike. So.. Sinden wrote out a message to everybody that delays were expected now, and they're going to try to find alternative shipping people going forward. However, I'm still sitting here waiting. The website updated about a week ago saying it has been received now, but is still "in transit", and hasn't left Europe yet. I'm in no rush, waiting patiently. But it kinda sucks I ordered it almost 2 months ago and it's still in the originating country.

That sounded so dirty,

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!