iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

He made a new listing for me of both of the games together and I bought them. Finally my floppy-disk-era Sierra collection will be complete! These early floppy-only Sierra games really defined the adventure game genre for me as a kid. (The later CD ones are great, too, but just not the same. 😉)

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I didn’t need any more King’s Quest games, since this was completing my set there, but I figured I had nothing to lose in asking him if he happened to have Space Quest I. Amazingly, he did! Also in fantastic shape, and he was willing to sell it at a great price.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Not only did he respond with photos within *one minute*, but he mentioned that he had other King’s Quest games that he was going to be listing soon too if I was interested. I saw some other Sierra games in his photos, too.

King’s Quest I game box on a stack of other game boxes

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

However, this morning, an alert hit and I found a seller listing the version of King’s Quest I that I needed in great condition at a good price. Although he had a lot of photos, I sent a message asking if he could send a photo of the left side of the box that wasn’t shown.

King’s Quest I game box, floppies, and contents.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I then set alerts for King’s Quest I and Space Quest I. I’d get alerted frequently, but it was always either the wrong boxes (I needed 1987-ish ones to match my others), they were damaged or incomplete, or the sellers were asking just way too much money.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Then, last year, browsing around on eBay I saw a perfect copy of King’s Quest II. Memories flooded in, and I snapped it up.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

As a kid, I didn’t own copies of Sierra’s older games—King’s Quest I or II or Space Quest I. Instead, I had less-than-legal copies from one of my friends’ parents (thanks, Michael). Of course, I did buy digital copies of all of them later (thanks, GOG), but I don’t have the boxes or original disks.

A pile of 5.25” floppy disks with hand-written labels for Space Quest I, King’s Quest I, and King’s Quest II.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Over the next few years, I did the same with birthday and Christmas money to buy Space Quest II (1987), King’s Quest IV (1988), and Space Quest III (1989) as each game was released. Sierra games were the only games I’d buy, and I’d anticipate each new one for months. I still have them all.

Original Space Quest II, King’s Quest IV, and Space Quest III game boxes.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The first game I ever bought was King’s Quest III (1986). I was looking forward to it for months. It was finally released within days of my tenth birthday. I asked everyone for cash instead of gifts, and got just enough for the $49.95 plus tax cost at the Radio Shack in the shopping mall in Madison.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

That sucks! 😡 Sending a certified mail demand letter (then small claims court) may be the only way to do it, but only if the $600 clause is invalid for a reason other than his precedent, since fighting that could be very hard if you signed something. Sadly, the pragmatic choice may be to give up. 😢

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Forget about the underage worker thing. The “withholding your paycheck” thing is a slam dunk, instead. See the “Termination/Final Wages” section on labor.mo.gov/dls/general — if you’re not paid within seven days of you requesting your final paycheck by certified mail, they have to keep paying you.

Employer Requirements
Employers are required to pay a discharged employee all wages due at the time of dismissal. If not paid at that time, the employee should contact his or her former employer by certified mail return receipt requested, requesting wages that are due. The employer has seven days to respond to the written request. If the employer does not pay the wages due within the seven days, it will be liable for additional wages to the employee until he or she is finally paid for up to sixty days.

Employers must notify the Family Support Division within 10 days of terminating an employee under wage withholdings.

Employee Options
The employee may bring a private legal action to collect the wages due. (Under the law establishing this procedure, the state of Missouri does not have authority to collect wages for the employee.) If the amount due in back wages is less than $5,000, workers may file their claims in small claims court, where costs are less and it is easier to proceed without hiring private legal counsel. Individuals attempting to recover amounts above $5,000 should pursue a private right of action in circuit court.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

It does feel like a power move. Between the selective enforcement, that he says he searched through your contract (!!), and that $600 likely means nothing to him but he expects it does to you, it sounds mainly like he is trying to punish you for standing up to him. He sounds like a stand-up guy. 😉

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Proper response: “I accept your apology. Please send the $600 to me at your earliest convenience. Venmo works, or I am happy to accept a certified check.”

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Wow. Without evidence that the Clerk actually made the decision OAG 12-14 allows (to "choose whether to allow an individual to make copies in this manner"), that sign alone doesn't establish that the Clerk is exercising that authority. Okazaki needs to step up and stop hiding behind an old sign.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

I really miss the weather from 40 years ago. Then we could just have peaceful rain. Today, instead, we get hail, severe thunderstorms, damaging straight-line winds, and tornadoes over and over again. When monitoring all of this in the Madison area, here is my favorite page for viewing a radar loop.

tempest.aos.wisc.edu

UW-Madison Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

One thing you may notice is the resolution seems a bit off. This is because, currently, each phosphor dot is simulated as a single element of uniform brightness, rather than each dot being made up of individual grains where the electron gun can excite just part of a dot. That's coming...

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Also, I’ll mention that this video is after I turned the CRT off then back on once it was already warmed up. It’s different from a cold start! I am sure everyone who has used a CRT knew this by watching it. 😃

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

After posting that KQ2 screenshot the other day, I realized that this was *not* how I remembered the game looking. I looked into ways to fix it, but every CRT simulator I found didn’t actually simulate a CRT—it just added effects to an image, and never looked right. So I decided to create my own.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

What happens when you write a CRT simulator that, instead of simply adding a "scanline effect," actually models the power supplies, video input signals, amplifiers, electron gun, yoke, aperture grill, phosphors, etc., of a real CRT? This. Totally emergent--nothing is "faked." Stay tuned for more.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I don't actually *need* any sound effects. I mostly just miss using Cool Edit. That was fun. And it's kind of neat that it's still around now, 30 years later, under a new name.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Back in the 90's, I'd make sound effects for my games by recording things with a Radio Shack microphone into my Sound Blaster AWE32. Then I'd use Cool Edit to remove background noise, add effects, and so on. I'm very tempted to fire up Adobe Audition and try to make some kind of sound effect again.

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Reposted by Robert Sundling

Kaitlin Sundling @kaitlinsundling.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

When I was a kid, on dark, rainy days I’d play King’s Quest II on our Tandy 1000SX in the corner of my parents’ bedroom. Not King’s Quest or King’s Quest III. My rainy day game was King’s Quest II. Today, almost 40 years later, whenever it rains I feel like firing it up. Kolyma is my cozy place.

A screenshot from the game King’s Quest II, where King Graham is on a beach, looking towards the ocean as waves crash upon rocks.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

That’s fantastic! So glad that it’s working!

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

This is exciting news! If you’re lucky, there may be absolutely nothing wrong with the drive in any way, and it all just comes down to figuring out the proper configuration for the jumpers and GW!

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Do you by chance have another cable you could try? Or, that same cable, in the other position (if it’s a dual connector one) and then tell GW to talk to drive B: rather than drive A:? (I think it’d be “--drive 1” on the command line.) Assuming the cable has a twist.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I do think that the behavior of the disk motor spinning as the disk is inserted, and then stopping shortly after the disk is clamped, is likely exactly as it is supposed to be. So that part is probably fine, and we know the motor itself works.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

It does look like the motor mostly works OK, internally (when you insert the disk), but the signal to turn it on isn’t getting to it from the GW. What’s interesting is the light coming on—which means it is getting SOME kind of signal. Usually the light and the drive motor should operate in lockstep.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

With a GW, you can actually read an entire diskette, no problems, without the index sensor working at all. However, when you ask the GW software to measure the RPMs, its code by default starts the disk motor spinning then measures how fast those index pulses occur. …

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The index hole and index sensor can actually be ignored for most disk operations; it was needed back when disks were “hard-sectored” instead of “soft-sectored.” Instead, the system just reads continuously and locates the first sector by examining the data itself, rather than looking for that hole. …

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

So the index sensor is what detects the little index hole in the disk, once each time it spins around. It’s a light sensor that shines through that index hole, and triggers exactly once per rotation, when the hole lines up. If the motor isn’t rotating the disk itself, the index sensor won’t work. …

A 5.25” floppy disk, shown with an arrow indicating the index hole in the outer diskette case, but with the disk itself not aligned to that hole.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

So the motor works at least. Are the jumpers on the drive set properly? 5.25” floppy drives usually have the ability to be one of two to four drives via jumpers. If it’s not set to the right drive for your cable and GW combo, it won’t respond to commands and won’t spin. Photograph its jumper block.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

That’s interesting. Once it’s in that state, with the disk inserted and the motor stopped, if the GW asks it to start spinning again, does it respect the GW commands to start and stop the motor?

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

How about a functional Solitaire game as a .COM file using only the playing card characters? ;-) 🂡🂢🂣🂤🂥🂦🂧🂨🂩🂪🂫🂬🂭🂮🂱🂲🂳🂴🂵🂶🂷🂸🂹🂺🂻🂼🂽🂾🃁🃂🃃🃄🃅🃆🃇🃈🃉🃊🃋🃌🃍🃎🃑🃒🃓🃔🃕🃖🃗🃘🃙🃚🃛🃜🃝🃞🃟🂠

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The drive is likely supposed to spin a few times after the front lever is closed, to detect media. This is too early. Try it without the data cable connected (power only). What happens? If it still spins early, then the fault is definitely internal. Once it starts, when does it stop spinning?

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Oh, or do you mean that it allows GW to spin the motor even with no disk inserted? (If it starts spinning immediately when it receives power that’s a different failure mode from spinning whether or not there is a disk.)

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Does the motor spin if it is connected to JUST power, or does it need the GW too?

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Share the symptoms here. I may have some ideas. (Or I may not, who knows.) I do still have a real, human brain, and piles of old disk drives, some of which were stored in a shed in my parents’ backyard with a dirt floor. What kind of drive is it—a 5.25” half-height PC drive?

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

There is now a blog post explaining the details.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

If you have an appropriate 8086/8088 emulator available, give this a try. It's worth it! It definitely works on 86Box - @86box.net - emulating an IBM XT with a VGA adapter. Note that it won't on newer CPUs, as it requires invalid opcodes to be elided rather than trapped.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Also, I'm not sharing what happens when you run this, since you could have done that yourself (of course) and chose not to; I don't want to spoil it for anyone.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Wow. I definitely wasn't expecting *that*. This is truly impressive.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I don’t *remember* it having anything on there beyond boring specifications but I’ll have to investigate at some point. Either way, if the disk isn’t on the Internet Archive I’ll have to make an image myself and put it on there.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Wow! That’s so much more interesting than the contents of my 1991 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon diskette!

Front of the 1991 Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon 5.25” floppy diskette

Back side of the Buick Roadmaster 1991 Estate Wagon 5.25” floppy wagon diskette.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I bet @thealmightyguru.bsky.social will appreciate this. I found this old BASIC program I wrote on our Tandy 1000SX when I was ten years old, creating a (mostly) 3x5 font. Sadly I didn’t create the letters R through Z. 😃 (A Python script rendered the image here from the original DRAW statements.)

A vintage BASIC program to draw text characters for the letters A through Q using “DRAW” statements for a Tandy 1000, in screen mode 5 (320x200, 16 colors).

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Introducing Mocha! He’d been at our local Humane Society for three months without being adopted before we found him. He’s 11, super cuddly, and loves people so much. Every morning he wakes up SO HAPPY to find we’re still here and runs to us with his tail wagging and thumping against anything nearby.

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

@wildweasel486.bsky.social You may have already seen this, but I just happened across it today and thought of you. 😃 A fully playable version of Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge.

aaron-demeter.itch.io

Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge by Aaron Demeter

Now With Scoring Pencil!!

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A few years ago, worried they’d be discontinued, I bought a bunch of 120GB SSDs for $13 each, since with SATA to ATA adapters they’re perfect for old DOS computers (they’re the largest possible size with the 28-bit sector numbers used in ATA drives then). I suppose I could repurpose them for this. 😂

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Robert Sundling @robertsundling.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I'm all for it. I'm in favor of anyone creating things (whether they're art, music, writing, or the result of other artistic endeavors) to put out into the world, and a podcast certainly qualifies!

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