Epple, let's see!

If I happened to be in a cafe and if my ears latched on to any muttering of "Disk II," I suspect I would be unable to resist eavesdropping and attempting to penetrate the conversation.  I exhausted a tremendous portion of my childhood from 1986 until 1991, ensuring I could make a backup of every Apple II program I encountered.  Even the crappy ones like Shamus and Frogger.  I lacked any electrical theory foundation, lacked any oscopes or meters, and could barely program my own rudimentary Disk II machine code; there was no way I could create a 6&2 decoder, but fetching raw data wasn't impossible.

In a pursuit to reclaim my own fatiguing memory of the Disk II system and behavior of said games, I purchased (the absolutely fantastic) AppleSauce floppy drive controller.  

• I refrain from using the designer's full name or storefront to avoid appearing on the first page of Internet search engines for would-be seekers of AppleSauce or other Disk II-ish topics.  As for AppleSauce, this isn't said enough: John thanks and thanks.

The AppleSauce controller has a continuously-developed software counterpart that smartly rips a flux image of the floppy media, and through its Disk Editor, permits exporting to the AppleSauce-driven WOZ1 and WOZ2 formats.  

Emulators are adopting mature WOZ support at an impressive rate.  The AppleSauce storefront details Apple II emulators with WOZ support, and like AppleSauce, many emulators continuously change.  Some need to be built from source.

I found that one emulator which does not require to be built, but does require OS X -- Gerard's fantastic work -- and sadly, for me, it does not work with the WOZ of Frogger captured by fouram.  I had a master Frogger disk in my former library, which worked on my enhanced //e back then. I get the impression it should work but the booted Frogger WOZ1 never gets too far beyond the Spiradisc banner before creating drive chatter.  If my memory serves me correctly, it should boot to window blind filled game screen.

I'm no stranger to building from source on Linux, but rarely have a I had to assemble all the aclocal, automake, and autoconf components.  

This post is an anchor to help preserve the steps (the right steps perhaps?) which resulted in a working Epple2 build.

• Download and unzip xa65
• Edit Makefile of xa65 to set DESTDIR = ~/
• Run make
• Run make install
• export PATH=${PATH}:~/bin
• Download and unzip epple2 (great work Christopher M!) 
• Run aclocal
• Touch config.h.in
• Run automake --add-missing
• Edit configure variable named ac_default_prefix=/usr/local to be =~/
• Run ./configure
• Run make
• Run make install
• Download and unzip Apple-II-Source (this produces applesoft.a65 and monitor.a65)
• Run aclocal
• mkdir build-aux
• automake --add-missing
• autoconf
• Run automake --add-missing
• Edit configure variable named ac_default_prefix=/usr/local to be =~/
• Run make
• Run make install

After these steps, epple2 booted after I kicked off emulation with F1.  Prior to addingapplesoft.a65 and monitor.a65, I would get a low-res screen of colors, which I thought meant something.  

I hope this wrte-up help saves time.

Hey HughesNet, how about giving me a real boost?

A year ago, family signs up for HughesNet. Family decides to buy the HughesNet booster - which in concept is a sound idea - especially since Family decided to anchor the HughesNet modem/router at one far end of the house, but Family has an old house, and outlets are few in number, and those in the ideal Wifi coverage zone are encumbered by either being part of the Dining Room or the Kitchen (it's a long narrow kitchen layout - annoying for the cook, for sure.)  So, that's a pretty much a "no," for slapping in a wall wart in a public or volatile space, and absolute avoidance of the "mancave" loose snaking-across-floor or taped-to-ceiling cabling approach.  Furthermore, an additional "no" to the use of EoP/powerline adapters as fixture infrastructure.

I give full points to HughesNet for simplifying the installation of the booster, but I - I - yeah - I cannot give any points to an overpriced ($99) booster which fails to implement PoE and fails to use a standard 12V "router" plug.

However, I have good news: inexpensive PoE splitters with yellow plastic tips can be ever so slightly altered to permit the slightly larger size of the center conductor tip of the HughesNet booster.  With a hobby knife, gently widen the inner circumference until it snugly fits in to the booster.

The model number of the splitter with which I first tried and had first success was a U5160+U6023.

With this alteration, a single cable can be run cleanly through the attic, a clean fixture mounting, and no wall wart.

Times of Lorex

Once upon a time, I played a wonderfully designed game called Times of Lore.  While rummaging through some of my old disks late last year (2018), I found the backups I'd made of the game in 1991.  The disks were still integral, which pleased me, since it had been before the turn of the century that I last toyed with them, and easily 9 years before that, that I undermined the copy protection scheme.  At that time, I was in high school, and I almost never recorded my procedures, but for this game, I distinctly remember that the Apple II DuoDisk drives were very noisy compared to the older shoebox shaped (Shugart) drives.  That noisiness always seemed to lend me a clue.  When booting the store bought master of Times of Lore, I could hear track seek noises similar to ProDOS 1.1.1, and after much trial and error, I found I could mostly close the spring loaded drive latch, but not all the way, and at a precise moment, rip out the disk and swap in a PRODOS disk with Copy II Plus.  If my memory serves me correctly, this gave me the chance to lift the data and write it back absent any raw copy protection.

That bit of history is merely a limp segue in to a matter that has been consuming much of time as of late: a Lorex video surveillance system.

A family member purchased a Lorex system and then expected some relative would set it up.  Until the lucky day that I successfully cross-train in to a different field, I will invariably navigate the agonies of family knowing I'm classically trained in computing technology.

Family was told that setting up a Lorex was easy.  Family was told wrong.  A few takeaways for anyone planning to install a Lorex:

• the Lorex 4K cameras have an excellent consumer grade picture.
• the Lorex NVR PoE ports are totally adequate, but the way Lorex coils up the 90 foot cables, renders the cables quite uncooperative.  In cooler weather, I have found it is easier to make fresh runs from a CAT5e spool and terminate both ends.  
• the Lorex NVR requires a Chrome plug-in that cannot be resolved.  The next bullet point has the work around.
• direct access to the Lorex 4K cameras successfully directs Chrome to NACL Web Plugin that can manage the NVR.  
• a building that's pre-wired or at least has existing conduit for cabling drastically reduces deployment time.  
• The individual cameras have username/password logins that should be changed, but out of the box, do not require a password change.  If deploying a discrete PoE network, change the passwords of the cameras.
• The NVR has generous list of other cameras which can be added, like Sony and JVC, to name a few.  Sadly, ABS MegaCams do not make the list.
• The cameras will work via PoE with Ubiquiti ToughSwitches at the 48V setting, and Netgear GS-108/GS-110TP switches.
• The Lorex utilizes a Western Digital purple surveillance drive.  I considered buying an SSD to replace it, since the environment will be harsh, but the purple drives appear to be well suited for this purpose. 

The time commitment is far more than I anticipated, with cabling and infrastructure being the most laborious and having the steepest learning curve.

Unresolved issues include:

• Ensure that the request to not cloud sync the footage be honored.  Block with home router ACL sandwich? 
• Standardizing footage/NVR administration.  Chrome? Android? Windows?
• Securing the NVR.  Will a lock box with an aft fan suffice?
• Securing the out of band camera network yet providing a means to relay SMTP alerts directly through Lorex's service.
• PoE switches ideally should be placed in a convenient location, but this building is challenged by its 1960's construction, lacks grounded outlets, and any power to the attic.  Furthermore, the attic is accessible only from the stairwell to the basement.  It seems to make the most sense to locate the attic mounted PoE switches close to the attic entrance.
• Many cables will have to be run.