Multiple Project Updates

Hello, I wanted to give you all an few updates because I've been working on a few projects and have been having some setbacks but still making progress. Right now I'm working on three different videos with the most significant one being visible in the picture there.

Data Generals:
The Data Generals are in the office! Finally I've been able to work out a day to get these moved in and have begun working on setting them up. This was part of a larger task though that isn't done yet as I'm helping someone else move a lot of stuff in return(the DGs were in their storage and I'm helping them move everything else out of it) so I'm still busy with that some days. I've also had a new neighbor start moving in at the office and there has been a surprising amount of construction noise that has prevented me from being able to film "live" videos like the one about getting these set up here will be. But I've made use of that time while there for the video still and have finally had a chance to scan and redact all the information on the service sheets that came with these computers so I can release them!

Micro Nova: https://photos.app.goo.gl/frHViX1NXvNgJNNv5

Nova 4/X: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xbpNUrZZUg31TzHL9

I will be working on these some more because as I started reading them I noticed that there were some pretty significant things that happened with these computers that I'll need to be aware of. So I think I'm going to end up transcribing these and putting them up on a personal project webpage somewhere so I can more easily read and refer to them. I'm still trying to decide how much to get into in this video on the data generals. I'm torn between just making it a basic update or actually getting in to something in this video. The more I think about it, the more I feel like I should just scale it back because it has nearly endless depth and I need to make very clear objectives for how I want to work on it. Maybe this video should just be forming my plan of attack to start working on it.

Spaceball:
So that weird mouse thing from the Byte video, yeah I really bought one. And it's pretty sweet. I thought it would be a quick turnaround video while I setup larger projects, but has ended up becoming it's own larger thing. I was able to track down original drivers for it, so I got it working on a period correct system but unlike the game controller version LGR covered it isn't usable as a normal input device. So it pretty much just worked with the demos and nothing else, not very exciting. It turns out that there is a functional linux driver though and I was able to get it working on a modern system with that which is definitely cool! But still not quite enough for a video to feel well rounded. The original drivers for it listed some compatible software and one of them was one I already wanted to get for a different video, 3D Studio Max Version 1 (or 1.1 or 1.2). It's always been really expensive when listed on ebay though and uses a DRM dongle which is frequently missing. Well as luck would have it, there was one, complete, on ebay right after I got the Spaceball. It was more expensive than any other piece of vintage software I've ever bought but, I bought it because I think I can make at least three videos with it. Well, it was delivered after a few days and much to my surprise, they sent me the right program, but the wrong version. And it was missing the security dongle. It turns out they had two of them and mixed them up. So I got ahold of them and they were apologetic and worked to fix it. Today the correct version is supposed to be delivered, so barring any more problems I should be able to start work properly on that video. But it has been a much more dramatic and complicated one to get started on than I imagined.

80s Office Space:

So also in the Byte video I teased a new area I've been working on in the office that will be my 1980s office corner with as much period correct furniture and other pieces as possible. I was going to make that video before the Byte video but I really didn't want to have to hide the bookshelves that are in the same room anymore so even though it was nearly ready I decided to push it to after the Byte one. Well in that time two things happened. I figured "Well, it's delayed, so I might as well make it more interesting" and I ordered some of these: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003265361366.html which let you use USB drives on 8b ISA computers. With that I figured I could easily use the 5150 for printing out the hardcopy for the outro. Being from Aliexpress they unsurprisingly took forever to get here, and in that time the other thing happened. FreeDOS released a new update that enabled support for FAT32 filesystems on 8088/8086 computers. That sounded like the perfect match for my plans for this system. I quickly tried to put FreeDOS on my compact flash card for my CF2IDE in it and ran into no end of problems. Apparently, one does not simply install FreeDOS on an 8088 and the directions for it aren't amazing. This all got so much more complicated and interesting than I planed that I'm now thinking I need to work on it backwards and make three videos. One on installing FreeDOS on a 5150 to get FAT32 support. One on the USB ISA card (at first I thought someone had already made a video about it but apparently not). And finally one about the 80s office area once it's all working. But to not spoil the office video more and have the technical videos about the hardware make logical sense from a viewers perspective, I'll have to release them in reverse order that I film them, so it's going to take longer to make, but get three videos all at once when it's done.

Okay, so that's what I've been working on. Working alone it always feels like there is no measure of progress and I'm behind on my schedules and obligations and feels like there is this invisible pressure that I need to get something done as quickly as possible. But I want the videos to also have substance so it's this constant battle and things going awry really throws a wench in my plans. So I hope that gives you an insight into what is going on but if nothing else this was also just a little bit of a weight off my chest to have some kind of visible progress. I'm not sure which video will be the first to get finished, possibly a simple Data General update, but I should have something soon now that some of these are pretty much ready.