BillyBoy tutorials

BillyBoy wrote on 12/17/2002, 10:43 AM

You're the first to report any problem.

Try http://www.wideopenwest.com/~wvg/tutorial-menu.htm

or to bypass the menu page which is the only one with scripting try this
http:www.wideopenwest.com/~wvg/tutorial-1.htm

I've asked WideOpenWest about that odd %7E in the address that their web server adds and they haven't given me any answer.

Chienworks wrote on 12/17/2002, 10:56 AM

7E is the hexadecimal code for the tilde ~ character. Some web servers convert anything outside of the normal alphanumeric character range to hex codes, prefixed with %, so that the odd characters can be reserved for other uses. Thus, %7Ewvg is exactly the same thing as ~wvg

Why the ~ character in the first place, you might ask? This is a standard Unix shortcut that refers to the user's home directory. Web server software takes this one step further and maps ~ to the user's public html files directory. So ~wvg points to the place on wideopenwest's web server where Billyboy has a user account and uploads the files he wants people to see on his website. If you see a URL with ~ in it, then it's a user (customer) directory rather than part of the domain's main website.

Jason_Abbott wrote on 12/17/2002, 11:53 AM

I think my popup blocker must have been closing your window. At least that's all I can think of. I'll have to test when I get back on my home computer, but I'm pretty sure the problem is not your site. Sorry for the false alarm.

BillyBoy wrote on 12/17/2002, 12:15 PM

Oops... Now I remember. Sure, hexadecimal. That's what I get for using a graphical HTML editor (Dreamweaver)... you forget raw HTML. Thanks Kelly.

Chienworks wrote on 12/17/2002, 1:59 PM

LOL! I got my feet wet with computers back when hexadecimal was used in programming more than ASCII.

Am i giving away my advanced age? ;)

Paul_Holmes wrote on 12/17/2002, 2:07 PM

You can't be that old. I saw you in that video where you walked through the wall and you looked pretty young to me! (Maybe that's just relative to my age).

I thought it was funny in a post a while back someone ranted and raved about you saying you were a "wannabe" techie. (One of those posts that make you shake your head and say "Say Whaaat!") Well, anyone who's followed your posts or been to your site knows you're not a wannabe. You ARE one!

Correction:
I just did a search and I guess you never said wannabe. Someone just flew off the handle about ME after you posted a negative comment on it.

SonyDennis wrote on 12/22/2002, 8:36 PM

Chien:

I remember when they used Octal, does that make me older? <g>

///d@

P.S. Octal was pretty useful on the PDP-11 where, for many instructions, the first digit encoded the instruction, the second the first register, and the third encoded the second register. Things have gotten more complicated since <g>.

BillyBoy wrote on 12/22/2002, 9:55 PM

Oh now I'm feeling old. I remember when main frames used vacuum tubes.

Grazie wrote on 12/22/2002, 10:02 PM

ooooo . . Don't you just love when the old guys sit 'round - sharing a beer and smoking a pipe, under the dancing, russet autumn leaves and remember those hazy days when code was code - ahhhh . . sublime! I truly enjoy you lads - I don't know who you are, but please don't go away . . . you've provided me with so much help over the months - I am very grateful! All I need to do now is capture some decent footage and keep things simple in VV.

This chat makes a really nice change from what has been going on, on these forums lately - Crack open a beersky for Grazie!

Merry Christmas One and All!

Chienworks wrote on 12/22/2002, 11:38 PM

Dennis, I know octal, but i started my Apple ][ days just as it was going out of style. Hex always made more sense to me anyway because it mapped to nybbles directly and i used to do a lot of graphics programming directly in binary. Now that's hard-core! Of course, with a 1MHz (yes, that's M, not G) 8 bit proccessor, it was important to squeeze every last bit of efficiency possible into the code. At least i've never had to use EBCDIC. That was just nasty (apologies to any old IBMers out there).

The first octal digit was the instruction? Hmmmm. Pretty small instruction set there!

MarkWWWW wrote on 12/23/2002, 7:53 AM

Octal? Luxury - we used to dream of using octal.

Ee, when I were a lad we just had ones and zeroes. And sometimes we didn't even have ones. :-)

sqblz wrote on 12/23/2002, 8:59 AM

Yeah, yeah. Been there, done that.
Ever coded in Assembler ? Yes ? What about card punchers ?
Fortran anyone ? Cobol ? APL ???
CAD/CAM machines ?

Those were NOT the good old days ...

Paul_Holmes wrote on 12/23/2002, 9:18 AM

Those are NOT the good old days. I remember learning the 6809 instruction set for a Radio Shack computer back in the early 80s and the sense of elation I had when I was finally able to code "Hello World" and actually have it appear on the screen!

MyST wrote on 12/23/2002, 9:28 AM

I've never felt so illiterate in all my life! :(

M

Sr_C wrote on 12/23/2002, 9:37 AM

LOL! Illiterate? These guys are making me feel downright stupid! The only thing I can offer the thread is:

"Uh......um....Hey!.....remember Atari!!

MyST wrote on 12/23/2002, 10:12 AM

It's times like these where you have to find something that won't make you feel so inferior. Like, I bet you they might be good at all this stuff, but I bet you their VCR still has that 12:00 blinking.

sqblz wrote on 12/23/2002, 10:36 AM

To Paul Holmes:
What is a screen ? In 1970 we had teletypes, that wrote sheets of paper. Anybody remember the Brigitte Bardot lookalike in ASCII ?
To MysT:
My VCR isn't blinking anymore. But my portable phone has completely overtaken me ... gladly, my son manages it.

Sr_C wrote on 12/23/2002, 10:42 AM

"I bet you their VCR still has that 12:00 blinking"

Ahhh... the "12 O'clock Flashers" (That's what we call them in the CATV industry)

I bet some of them are also guilty of having to use 4 different remote controls to watch a DVD because they have yet to master the programming of a Universal Remote ;)

Sorry guys, but MyST and I need some form of self assurance :)

MyST wrote on 12/23/2002, 11:01 AM

Universal remotes are a God send! I programmed mine just the other day. Everything's fine, except when I hit "pause"... my garage door opens!

Chienworks wrote on 12/23/2002, 11:56 AM

What's really sad is that when i was working in a video store while going to college, my boss would call me up every evening and tell me what TV shows he wanted taped that night. I'd program the store VCRs, stuff them with tapes, and let them rip. He never figured out how to program them.

The really odd one is a slightly longer tale from my mother, the self-proclaimed technophobe. I bought her a VCR for a Christmas present ages ago. Shortly thereafter, i got a phone call from her at about 1am. Her all-time favorite movie, "Mrs. Miniver", had been on that evening. It's almost never shown, and the last time she had seen it was when she was a teenager. But she had to miss it because of a school meeting. Well, she tells me, "It's amazing! I had heard that you could make a VCR record something while you were away, so i read through the manual, followed the instructions for setting the date, time, channel, length of recording, put a blank tape in, and hit the timer button. I just got home and my movie is recorded!!! Now i can watch it whenever i want!" I could practically hear her dancing around the room. I said "Congratulations! You taught yourself how to program the VCR." and she replied "OH NO! I could never do that!" and never tried it again. *sigh*

MyST wrote on 12/23/2002, 12:18 PM

Questions about VCR programming is the number one reason a son talks to his mother on the phone.
Mothers' Day is a distant second.*

* Study conducted jointly by Hitachi and Hallmark.

sqblz wrote on 12/23/2002, 8:21 PM

Hi, Chien
Well you know, it comes with age. Quality, it is.
Same with me (no fake modesty). A long while ago, when I bought my first photo camera (a Nikon F) I sat down for 2 or 3 hours with the camera in my lap, and read the whole manual in a 3-hour testing marathon. Some months ago, when I bought my latest photo camera (a Nikon F60) I unpacked it and started shooting. Today I still don't know half of their commands (don't miss them anyway).
That's why I don't manage my mobile. I *did* read the manual ... of my first mobile, but none thereafter. I use the mobile to send and receive phone calls (which was the sure reason for having bought it).
Honestly, the last manual that I remember having read fully, ... it's Vegas !!! Go figure !!!
Nice thread, this one ;-)

JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/23/2002, 11:58 PM

To sqblz:

> What is a screen ?. In 1970 we had teletypes, that wrote sheets of paper

My first program was written on a DECWriter attached to a PDP-11. I sure do remember those sheets of paper streaming out the top and all the cryptic control sequences for editing on paper. Right around this time of year we’d be printing out Christmas banners.

> Fortran anyone ? Cobol ? APL ???

Been there, done them. My first assembly language was 6502 to program my Apple ][+, which I still have in my basement. (I just can’t bear getting rid of my first computer) I have a Z80 card in it and run CP/M on it. I actually have a COBOL compiler for CP/M that runs on the Apple. I thought APL was rather cryptic but powerful in its matrix manipulation capabilities. The trick was how many instructions could you fit on one line. ;-)

The reason I had to learn assembler was because I was doing MIDI programming and the only way to capture real-time MIDI data was in assembler. Don’t forget, the Apple ][+’s 6502 was an 8 bit processor running at a blazing 1MHz. (yes, that’s one megahertz) Wow, we’ve come a long way.

~jr