"one more question" or "Laser Squad"

Tuesday July 22 1997 19:30, Faultless ─── Kostya Volkov:

KV>> no one connected two spectra with each other?
F> [skip]
KV>> answer plz, otherwise such a project is dying because of
KV>> my natural laziness.

F> The game is a subject - it has a built-in ability to play via tape-in - tape out modem
F> and in some spectrophone I saw a circuit. Simple.
And completely miserable... :(((IMHO, those who made this gadget in LS didn’t even
know about the methods of redundant coding, error correction, etc., etc.
Now, if you have two computers on adjacent tables, you can still
do something, but then... Although, maybe I’ll go to them unfair, maybe they
had it in mind - that the Spectrums should stand next to each other.

Good luck Evgeny.

a lot of years ago Evgeny Milun wrote to Faultless'y:

EM> they didn’t even know about the methods of redundant coding, error correction, etc. and
EM> etc.

well, here you are, code it. I don’t understand your position, someone was the _first_ to decide
to implement what the Sinclairist-modem workers dreamed of, and on what basis? LS! which was (and maybe still is) a hit for a long time. and then some cool hacker will come and say, 'Gentlemen, you don't understand a damn thing about redundant coding and error correction...' and how do you know what they understand and what they don't understand? maybe they immediately decided to make an unqualified version, and then
wanted to release a normal one, with 'redundant coding' etc....

EM> Now, if you have two computers on adjacent tables, you still
EM> can do something, but then... Although, maybe I'm being unfair to them, maybe they are like this and thought that the Spectrums should stand
EM> next to each other.

Damn, just to take a peek :-E~ this is the first and last (afaik) toy for a modem on Spec. and in spite of everything it worked....it's really buggy, but
it worked, though the quality of communication for it needed to be very good....
With best wishes - Vlad.

VH> well, here you go, code it.
So. And I'll code it. I just need to get a normal modem.
VH> I don’t understand your position, someone _first_
VH> decided to realize what the Sinclairist modem makers dreamed of, and on what?
VH> LS !
Here you can still argue quite a bit.
(1) “The Sinclairist modem makers.” The gadget is not designed for a modem, but for connection
through tape connectors. And these are two big differences.
(2) Even when you are doing something “for the first time,” it is useful to read something on this topic, to see how others do similar things. In information technologies
there is almost an entire section that studies (and gives recommendations) how to transmit information without loss.
(3) Corollary of the 2nd. It was necessary to take the most suitable noise-proof coding system and implement it, and not something unclear.
(4) Corollary of the 3rd. When developing such a "gadget" it was necessary to pay the main attention to the development of the protocol, and not to the "possibility of setting up ports".

VH> which has been a hit for a long time (and may still be) and then
VH> some cool hacker will come and say, 'Gentlemen, you don't understand a damn thing about
VH> redundant coding and error correction...' and how do you know what they
VH> understand and what they don't understand?
I see. Try using a modem (of course -Spectrum) connect with some friend of yours. Transfer files to each other. Now try to play
with the same friend in LS. If you can do this (the game) with the same ease
as the “modem-line” one, then...
But, don’t get your hopes up in advance. As far as I know, no one has yet managed to
play normally “via modem”.

VH> maybe they immediately decided to make an untested
VH> version, and then wanted to release a normal one, with 'redundant coding'
VH> etc....
Yes??? Why is it needed at all - this is “coding”? Yes, and why then
this “test version” should be given to distributors?

[killed]

EM> I see. Try using a modem (Spectrum, of course) to connect
EM> with some
EM> of your friends. Transfer files to each other. Now try
EM> to play with the same friend in LS. If you can do this (the game) with
EM> the same ease as “modemline”, then...
EM> But, don’t get your hopes up in advance. As far as I know, no one has yet
EM> managed
EM> to play normally “via a modem”.

Yes, this version has such a cool protocol that not only does it not
work at all, but it also asks the user: “Did an error occur and should I transfer it again?”!!! Somehow we (FFC)
had an idea to rewrite the protocol, but we don’t know a damn thing about modem operation.
:-(((

Sincerely, Alex from FFC COMPUTERS.

VH>> coding' etc....
EM> Yes??? Why is it needed at all - this is “coding”? Yes, and why then
EM> is this “test version” being pushed to distributors?

I said _maybe_, maybe this was their final version, since
they realized that you couldn’t earn a lot of bucks on this, and decided purely out of
principle to bring the matter to the end, but not on that level...or maybe they really were dummies, but in any case, blaming accusations of incompetence on someone when that someone cannot defend themselves (as now, I don’t see the creators in the echo) is unethical...

EM> Why???? I said: when you have two computers on adjacent tables -
EM> everything works, but with a modem it doesn’t. This is a simple statement of fact.

heh, for that matter, there is no modem support at all, everything is through
a tape input, but it sounds good to you, similar to “via a null modem, my
computer can transmit data, but not via a modem :( ' because the program is not designed for a modem :) it is oriented to the tape output ;)
okay, okay - I’m picking on words, but what was in the minds of those who wrote this version, no one will say except the programmers themselves.