• Interact One

    From n2qfd@21:1/154 to All on Thu Mar 21 18:06:50 2024
    So my dad still has the 1st computer we had growing up.
    An old Interact One in the box and asked if I wanted that today. I don't really know what I'd even do with it but keep it in a box here! I don't even know what I'd interface it to if I wanted to see if it would still run!

    Anyone else play with one if these? I remember the keys would squeak as you pressed them.

    N2QFD

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  • From dingo@21:1/121 to n2qfd on Thu Mar 21 16:21:56 2024

    Twas Thursday, March 21st when n2qfd said...
    So my dad still has the 1st computer we had growing up. An old Interact One in the box and asked if I wanted that today. I don't really know what I'd even do with it but keep it in a box here! I don't even know what I'd interface it to if I wanted to see if it would still run!


    I'm sure it'll still run, or at worst you may have to "recap" it (replace electrolytic capacitors).

    It looks like the only interface is the cassette recorder. You would have to create audio streams of BASIC programs and "play" them into the audio interface. You could use a tape deck as an intermediary or just hook directly into the machine from your computer.

    The Apple 2, for example, has an audio port for the cassette interface, and there is a great website that allows you to "play" game files into your apple 2 for loading, http://asciiexpress.net/gameserver/readme.html

    As for what programs to load, anything from the book "BASIC Computer Games" should work, it looks like it uses Microsoft's BASIC which is the most popular dialect, so pretty much anything will work. It also has a generous amount of RAM for the time so pretty much any game should fit.

    I played a BASIC game from my childhood, "HAMURABI.BAS" recently, then, I came up with the best "winning strategy" by hand, and eventually automated it into a program to play against my Apple 1 computer. I played about 2,000 games with 99.7% win rate. The trick was to systematically starve 3% of the population each round, lol.

    More about it here, https://www.jeffquast.com/post/hamurabi_bas/ -- HAMURABI.BAS and its dystopian lessons.



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  • From AKAcastor@21:1/162 to N2qfd on Thu Mar 21 16:54:24 2024
    So my dad still has the 1st computer we had growing up.
    An old Interact One in the box and asked if I wanted
    that today. I don't really know what I'd even do with it
    but keep it in a box here! I don't even know what I'd
    interface it to if I wanted to see if it would still run!

    I hadn't heard of the Interact One before, looking it up online that looks like a neat system.

    http://oldcomputers.net/interact.html

    The oldcomputers page says it does 17 columns by 12 rows, maybe a bit cramped, there is mention that a RS-232 expansion board existed - potentially you could call a BBS with your Interact One. :) (the 17x12 text mode would certainly limit options there..)

    Kay Savetz did an interview with Dave Johnson, who programmed for the Interact One, and later for Atari: https://archive.org/details/dave-johnson


    Chris/akacastor

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  • From n2qfd@21:1/154 to dingo on Thu Mar 21 20:38:36 2024
    Oh yeah I remember the tape deck.

    Dad had this spiral bound book of basic programs and we'd type them in line by line then tape it if it ran well.
    The TI-99 was much more versatile for interfacing. I think I still have the tape deck for that.

    N2

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    * Origin: Queenn City BBS (21:1/154)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to dingo on Fri Mar 22 07:43:00 2024
    Hello dingo!

    ** On Thursday 21.03.24 - 16:21, dingo wrote to n2qfd:

    I played a BASIC game from my childhood, "HAMURABI.BAS" recently, then, I came up with the best "winning strategy" by hand, and eventually automated it into a program to play against my Apple 1 computer. I played about
    2,000 games with 99.7% win rate. The trick was to systematically starve 3% of the population each round, lol.

    More about it here, https://www.jeffquast.com/post/hamurabi_bas/ -- HAMURABI.BAS and its dystopian lessons.

    Very interesting report of your gaming experience. Well done.


    Maybe the world leaders are simply playing hamuabri in making
    their decisions to bomb, invade lands, starve people, release
    bio weapons, etc! :|


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  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to dingo on Fri Mar 22 06:18:00 2024
    dingo wrote to n2qfd <=-

    The Apple 2, for example, has an audio port for the cassette interface, and there is a great website that allows you to "play" game files into your apple 2 for loading,
    http://asciiexpress.net/gameserver/readme.html


    When I whistled games into my VIC 20, my lips would get chapped.


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  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Ogg on Sat Mar 23 16:46:00 2024
    Very interesting report of your gaming experience. Well done.


    Maybe the world leaders are simply playing hamuabri in making their decisions to bomb, invade lands, starve people, release bio
    weapons, etc! :|

    They could be playing Resident Evil too...

    Spec


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  • From Newtype Len@21:2/148 to n2qfd on Sat Mar 23 20:02:00 2024
    Here are some resources if you haven't found them already:

    OldComputers.net
    https://oldcomputers.net/interact.html

    Service manual, poor scan though https://oldcomputers.net/interact/interact_service_manual.pdf

    This is a computer I've never, ever heard of before. I'm researching it a bit just for the heck of it.

    Newtype Len
    Blog@www.SaturdayAnime.com
    #Calling from Shurato's Heavenly Sphere#


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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Spectre on Sun Mar 24 10:43:00 2024
    Hello Spectre!

    ** On Saturday 23.03.24 - 16:46, Spectre wrote to Ogg:

    Maybe the world leaders are simply playing hamuabri in
    making their decisions to bomb, invade lands, starve
    people, release bio weapons, etc! :|

    They could be playing Resident Evil too...

    Not familiar with that one. However.. I am sure politicians/
    military have analysis tools that simulate and predict various
    scenarios for outcomes. Perhaps chaos theory is part of that
    too.

    But even then, all these games/tools are merely inventions
    programmed by humans. So, it could be easy to miss a perfectly
    relevant variable into the predictive formula.

    Hamurabi could have included cats to help control the rat
    population. Instead the programmer simply designed it to be "if
    no grain, then no rats."

    --

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    * Origin: Ogg's WestCoast Point (21:4/106.21)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Ogg on Tue Mar 26 19:29:00 2024
    They could be playing Resident Evil too...

    Not familiar with that one. However.. I am sure politicians/

    Chuckle, you been living under a rock? I'm not sure when the games
    originally came out, probably late 90s. Have to admit I paid no attention to them they weren't in my wheel house. But then Mila Jovovich turned up in
    a movie of the same name, that covered the initial game story, and went on
    from there.

    1996 apparently for the game, 2002 for the first movie.

    Spec


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  • From Nightfox@21:1/137 to Spectre on Tue Mar 26 09:28:09 2024
    Re: Interact One
    By: Spectre to Ogg on Tue Mar 26 2024 07:29 pm

    They could be playing Resident Evil too...

    1996 apparently for the game, 2002 for the first movie.

    I think I saw the movie in the theater.. I remember it wasn't that great. And there was a scene where they were obviously going for a joke, but nobody laughed (it just wasn't funny).

    Nightfox
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  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Nightfox on Wed Mar 27 05:55:00 2024
    I think I saw the movie in the theater.. I remember it wasn't that great.

    While it was no cerebral feast, I found it entertaining when I saw it, would have to have been in the 2000s somewhere. I think it all started going downhill not to long after though...

    Spec


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  • From jimmylogan@21:1/137 to n2qfd on Sat May 18 08:29:00 2024
    n2qfd wrote to dingo <=-

    Oh yeah I remember the tape deck.

    Dad had this spiral bound book of basic programs and we'd type them in line by line then tape it if it ran well.
    The TI-99 was much more versatile for interfacing. I think I still
    have the tape deck for that.


    My CoCo 2 had a tape deck. Man I was uptown when I upgraded to a
    disk drive YEARS later. :-)




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