If I Cried Out

Well that makes perfect sense to me.....thanks again.




So additional logic might point to the notion that the time to make a quick buck is now, as the window of opportunity is closing?

edited to add:

So where is that OP guy with all of the dreamy questions?

As much as I like it when the banter is fast paced and spontaneous, I seem to miss the posts of others as I am slow to conjure up my own.....I totally missed this one, and it addresses something that many a prospective newcomer has complained about.




I vehemently disagree with that Oz......I see the vam book as filling the "greatest" slot......The population has either never read it, or didn't understand it......The first few chapters are my definition of 'knowledge', and anyone who has not read this for comprehension is doing himself/herself a great disservice.....

As for the site that you mention; it may have a few good points, but it could and should be a whole lot better.....and a better question might be 'by intent or design'?

Much can be done with a wiki, and unfortunately by anyone.....I would say that it is not just the fault of a few that the pages remain in such a sorry state, but the fault of anyone who has either pictures or information that they could and should add, yet fail to do so.......Does anyone really have to ask permission add pictures or text? It is almost like communism in that few will do more than they feel necessary, while most will do nothing at all.

The second row from the front is a full stable of Commodores. 64 in the center.

I don't believe you and Ozland disagree to a great extent. He is more oriented towards the "what," you, the "why." The "what" is far more important to the average collector, who wishes more to attribute than to originate. The "why" is imperative knowledge for those who wish to get deeper into things; it's always annoyed me (I owned, and repeatedly read, the Encyclopedia before I knew VAMworld existed) that some of the larger names there sometimes put forth theories which totally contradict some of what the Encyclopedia says.

Is the Encyclopedia infallible? No. I disagree with some of the conclusions I find therein. Is VAMworld infallible? No, especially when they discuss "why." But, when they discuss "what," there is no more accurate reference available anywhere. Its' flaw is in the exclusions, not what's included.

Zeewool, I deceived you. The Commodore 64 isn't in that pic. It's a Commodore 16. Like so:




1) Epson Equity LT
2) Sharp PC-4501
3) Toshiba T1000 (the first modern laptop)
4) Datavue 25 (Odd bird, this - 4.8Mhz 80C88 and an infrared keyboard)
5) Compaq Portable I (arguably the first laptop)
6) Compaq keyboard (OK, I don't know why I numbered it)
7) Commodore Plus 4
8) IBM 5140 PC Convertible
9) Franklin PC8000
10) Custom PC/XT clone (hinged case opens upward from the front)
11) Texas Instruments TI99/4a
12) Commodore 16
13) NEC PC8201A
14) Tandy 200
15) Commodore 128

This is about a third of it. They all work.

Oh, we've met, then.

OK. As near as I read aladin's original intent, these words are necessary and relevant to the original topic:

We've discussed this a number of times, in a number of threads. A serious affliction threatens VAMming as we know it. What do we do about it?

Nothing, more than what we're doing. Naming names, sounding off, making a nuisance of oneself obfuscates the matter and draws attention away from the root problem. Some few very capable people (names Ozland has mentioned, among others) are already acting, with their eyes, their loupes, microscopes, cameras and their keyboards. They work for the love of the craft; they are not corruptible because it's about the coins for them.

They are doing the things which defeat the bad guys, not us. I'd be among them if I had the disposable income to accumulate a sufficient sample; were that the case, I'd resign my position here and devote myself to research. But I don't.

I have perspective, though. I can feel what helps and doesn't help. We can't engage the bad guys in open warfare and earn anything but a Pyrrhic victory, if that.

So, we settle for being the people who make sure the issue doesn't get swept under the carpet. That is sufficient. The rest will take care of itself, eventually. It won't happen this month, or this year. Our side has time on its' side; they need to make money sometime soon or abandon the effort for some other way to make money, because it's about money for them and money don't stand still. We can afford to be patient. They can't.

So we educate. Every chance we get. We welcome the newbies, we take care of them, we nurture them, above all we make sure they know the bad part as well as the good and how to tell them apart.

Every single time. Every chance we get. We do not falter, we do not get tired of it, we don't stop. The information not only needs to be free; it needs to be freely shared. You guys may move on; it's not my place to co-opt you or direct you. Every one of you has already done more than your share.

But I'm not going to stop.

Only you think you've gone over the line, zeewool, not me. Everything you've done (and I've read more of it than you know) has been within the bounds. You're just....closer to the point of the wedge.

Have I ever told the story of the Apple Club?