|
|
            
|
Spoonbill Software News September 2009 Hi
everyone! A lot of things have been
happening since my last newsletter in December last year, but not much I’m
afraid on the programming front. Several
upgrades have been released including BG Cribbage 1.2 for my blind and vision
impaired clients, Spoonbill Jigsaw 6.0 and Crossword Compiler 4.2 for my sighted
clients. Also
a new game Pent-a-Twist was released last January 2009. Radiotherapy and Hip Replacement But
the main event this year which has prevented me from spending so much time
programming has been six weeks away from Albany, up in Perth where my wife Joy
received a prolonged course of radiotherapy treatment for her recurring breast
cancer. We spent the time together in the Cancer Council’s accommodation for
country cancer patients, AH Crawford Lodge which was conveniently located in the
grounds of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Just prior to travelling to Perth my
local GP recommended I have a total hip replacement of my left leg which was
gradually giving me more and more trouble. He referred me to a specialist
surgeon whose rooms just happened to be a few hundred metres up the road from
Crawford Lodge! And one of the hospitals he performed his operations at was
Hollywood Private Hospital – a couple of doors up from his consulting rooms!
So Joy and I thought it would be a good idea to take the opportunity while we
were both up in Perth, for me to have my hip replacement at the same time as Joy
was having her radiotherapy. During this time of stress for both of us, we were
very lucky to have the wholehearted support of our two children Peter and Ruth
who took so much time out of their busy schedules to take us shopping and
generally see that we were well looked after. Thank you kids! Apple Crossfire – The Remake Just
before we went on our sojourn to Perth I had started on an attempt at a remake
of the old Apple II game, Crossfire. But I am still recovering from my hip
replacement operation and have not felt much inclination for programming.
Besides I have come up against a brick wall as it were in working out how the
computer enemy moves. If anyone out there used to have an Apple II and used to
play Crossfire, I would be very thankful for a bit of assistance with completing
the development of this game. Flower Power 1.0 Just
this month I have announced the release of a new board game based on Hasbro’s
“Let’s Do Lunch”. Instead of cannibals eating other cannibals I have used
a tranquil garden setting where you plant flowers instead. You can read a
synopsis of the game and view a screenshot on the What’s New page at: www.spoonbillsoftware.com.au/news.htm Backup, Backup, Backup! I’m
still getting requests from previous clients to resend games which I have
already sent them. The usual reason is either “I had a computer crash and lost
all the files” or “I have got a new computer and want to put all the games
onto the new computer.” If
only when they had received the setup files from me in the first place, they had
thought to copy them to a separate backup medium. These days external backup
media are versatile and cheap, so there is no excuse for not making a separate
copy of the files. Copies
can be made to CD, DVD, External USB Flash drive, or External USB Hard drive. A
CD can hold up to 700 Megabytes and only costs the price of the disk which is
just a few cents. A
DVD can hold more data – up to 4.7 Gigabytes, and again the only cost is the
price of a DVD +R disk. An
external USB Flash drive or memory stick plugs directly into a USB port on your
computer and depending on the capacity can cost anything from $5 upwards. A 1
Gigabyte flash drive can be bought for as little as $5. Unlike your internal
hard disk which consists of revolving iron oxide coated platters, a flash drive
is completely solid state with no moving parts. It is small enough to carry
around in your pocket and is ideal for transferring data from one computer to
another. The
most expensive external device is a external USB hard drive. This is exactly the
same as your internal hard drive except that it is enclosed in a plastic case
and connects externally to your computer via a USB cable. Various sizes can hold
80 Gigabytes, 160 Gigabytes, 250 Gigabytes etc. The bigger the capacity, the
more you expect to pay. For
the general user who just wants to backup a small amount of data (for instance
the setup files for Spoonbill Games), a USB flash drive is the ideal solution.
It is both cheap and convenient. Once plugged into your computer’s USB port,
it becomes just like another disk drive. Using Windows Explorer you can then
drag and drop files from your main computer to the flash drive. The flash drive
can then be removed and stored away from the computer. If the computer crashes
and your hard disk has to be reformatted, you can then reinstate your files from
the flash drive backup. And in the event that you get a new computer, again the
files can be copied from your flash drive. Until
next time, Happy
gaming! Ian Humphreys Spoonbill Software Albany, Western Australia
|
|
Send mail to webmaster@spoonbillsoftware.com.au with
questions or comments about this web site.
|