As we left off in my last entry, we had determined that the format was not the Pictor PC Paint
.PIC file format as I had hypothesized. One of the first things to do is to search the Internet to see what information is already known about the format. As I mentioned in my previous post, the .PIC format used with Darklands has apparently already been documented by someone, so that is likely a good starting place. The next thing to do is to look into the files we have with a hex viewer to see if there are any common elements in the files, or anything else, that stands out. This will also allow us to see if they are similar in anyway to what has already been documented with the Darklands format. Given that Darklands was released in 1992, a few years after F15-SE2 (1989), the formats could be entirely different despite sharing the same file extension. However, even if they are different, it’s reasonable to hypothesize that the files would share the same core genetics with the latter version being more evolved version of the former. That is unless MicroProse made some radical changes along the way. So let’s take a look.
-
Welcome to the Matrix
-
Construction Ahead
I’ve been fighting with my decade+ old template here on WordPress, which is no longer officially supported, to get some formatting right for new posts, to no avail. So time for some changes to a more modern template, but that will take a few days to fix up all the old posts to conform to the new style so please ignore the mess as edit everything to make it look decent again. Also with that the access URL for the blog will likely change as well to a custom domain. Hopefully those that subscribe will get updated links with the notifications. Thanks to everyone who’s been hanging in there with me.
-
State of the Elephant
After a 10+ year hiatus, I should probably address the elephant in the room that was the genesis for this blog, the LASER rebuild. So this is a quick update for those that are subscribed and have been following, or may stumble across this down the road. Those that have followed along from the beginning have rightly thought the project is dead. In reality it’s not dead, at least not entirely, it’s mostly dead, but not ALL dead, and it might take a visit from Miracle Max to revive it.
(more…) -
And the years, they ran like rabbits
I hang my head in shame… It has been over a decade since my last post here. Life pulls us in different directions, and inspirations come and go. Sadly this blog fell by the wayside in the wake of life. I’m going to try to change that. Hopefully by opening up what kind of content I write about here, will make it easier to have more content, and get into the swing of posting regularly.
(more…) -
Watt’s up, Doc?
So finally after about a year on the back burner, I finally managed to get some time in on the LASER. I have been slowly acquiring bits for the re-build over the past year, but this is the first real hands on moment I had for a while. One of my more recent acquisitions for the LASER was a 100W power sensor for measuring the output power of the LASER. The idea being that I would use it to monitor the health of the tube and my optical path once I got everything up and running. I also wanted to have an idea of what the real power was of my “free” LASER that had been sitting around for about 3 years before I got my hands on it, and then another year now on my shelf. So while the LASER was relatively new before being relegated to the scrap heap, a lot has happened that could have resulted in a drop in performance of the LASER. I’ve herd stories of the glass tube LASERs dropping in power output, even if just sitting on the shelf for a while… So I’ve been wondering if the same is happening to my LASER.
(more…) -
Back on the air
Sorry for all the static folks. Personal and financial setbacks have forced me to put the project on hold for a while. Rest assured it is not dead, just delayed, and will be getting back up and running in the near future, with perhaps a slight shift in direction, but we’ll see when we get there 🙂 [I know I said this before, but this time I mean it… I promise!]
Also, while I initially planned on having this blog for the laser rebuild project only, I’ve decided to expand my content and include some of the other projects I’m working on [or rather planning to], or dreaming up 🙂 I will mostly keep the projects centric around making, or tools for making (like the laser), to keep a general theme for the blog. This will help keep some form of content flowing for the few of you that are following along, and allow me to document some more of the things that interest me.
Stay tuned, more to come!
-
In the meantime
Here is another LASER re-build I’m somewhat involved with.
http://megacyclelabs.com/?p=198
It’s a *slightly* larger scale than the one I personally have. 😉
-
The Living Dead
Okay it’s been quite a while since I last posted. The project has come to a bit of a standstill, only due to a lack of time, and budget. The holidays were busier than I had expected, and I had a car accident between Christmas and New Years which ate into my budget for buying parts. So while things are on hold for the moment, the project is far from dead. I’m still working on various solutions for some aspects, and will be posting again soon. I also expect the actual re-build process to start in the near future. So please hang in there, the ride is about to start.
-
Possibilities
For those of you that have been following along, you will remember that the X rail for my old ULS-M25 is badly warped from the fire. To replace it with an official part from ULS will cost me $365 + taxes [or about $13.50/inch for the 27 inch extrusion]. Needless to say, this is a unpalatable price for an aluminum extrusion. So I’ve been trying to come up with possible replacement solutions that are more cost effective. The first step was to create a CAD model for the existing part to serve as a reference. While my model isn’t exact, as it is based on measurements of the damaged part, it should be close enough to serve its purpose.
(more…)
Ouch my eye! 