Category: Computing

Note: this is not an original article, it did not appear on this date. This date is used because I found a HowardForums post that I had made on this date, in reference to the work I was doing. It’s a story worth remembering. So I wrote this piece, but gave it the 2005 date because that was the time I was actually doing this, even though in this article I specifically reference things that happened well after 2005. Continue reading “PRL Hacking Phones”

This post was written in 2019, but dated original April 6th, 2004: the date of the occurrence. I was given access to an installer file that a lot of people didn’t even have room to host, or the bandwidth to distribute in 2004. It was a large SDK for the Sega Dreamcast console. This version of the SDK was codenamed “Katana.”

I was not a developer, I wasn’t even much of a fan of the Dreamcast at the time. But I helped spread it out there, knowing that the Dreamcast had been effectively dead for years, and wanting to see the homebrew community get a shot in the arm. A community which still exists to this day.

By July, the link was taken down from my website. Thankfully not due to any legal threats, but simply because of it’s large (for the time) size and bandwidth needs… funny to look back, now, because I think the file was only about 350 MB, if memory serves me correctly.

It’s funny to find a quote of myself on the DCEmulation forums, quoted by user Strapping Scherzo (typos and all): “I’m not out to do it for fame, or to get under a companie’s skin… it’s all for the hopes of progress.” It was all true. I didn’t even have ads on my website back then.

I don’t have the installer any more, but nothing on the internet dies, and I certainly wasn’t the first person to have it, I just got it in a few more hands. What a wild time.

Archived editorial content (from the original NuAngel.net – November of 2000 – when I was just 16 years old. About 1-month prior to the December 15th, 2000 closing of 3dfx – my first hardware “fanboy” experience):

Here it all is… the latest about 3Dfx. In a press release yesterday, 3Dfx stated that they Voodoo 5 6000 has been cancelled. Well, not actually – more like sold.

November 13, 2000 – 3dfx Interactive® Inc. (NASDAQ:TDFX) announced today that it has licensed its 4-way Scanline Interleave (SLI™) technology, based on the Voodoo5™ 6000 AGP project, to Quantum3D to be incorporated into their AAlchemy™ family of PC-based systems for visual simulation and training applications. The company also announced that its 4-way SLI technology, which has achieved 43 percent better Quake 3 graphics performance over leading competitive solutions, will be available exclusively from Quantum3D, and will not be available in the retail channel.

…

“Licensing our breakthrough 4-way SLI technology to Quantum3D is the best way to expend our engineering resources in a way that offers the best return,” said Byran Longmire, vice president of the graphics business unit. “While we are sympathetic to the disappointment this may cause to a small number of our loyal gaming consumers, we are looking forward to seeing this incredible technology marketed to the visual simulation industry where visual quality is the most important attribute.”

For those of you who don’t know – Quantum3D is a long time “partner” with 3Dfx. Therefore, this shows that it is nothing to really panic about. It’s another in the line of countless deals. Notice, it is a business transaction – 3Dfx will make good money off of this… also, others state that the plant in Juarez, Mexico will be closing down. This I’m not positive of, and if it is true, I have no official reason why. An ‘insider’ told me that it will be good for them (and us) in the long run. Like I said to a personal friend (who’s not even too interested in 3Dfx, we were just talking):

Selling off the Juarez production plant (Early November, 2000 press release), selling patents ($$$$$), and re-dedicating all work to the “3Dfx RAMPAGE” card, could be the way they plan on getting out of this. Unfortunately, other rumors are that 3Dfx is done with cards, completely… kiss the Rampage goodbye, too? We’ll wait and see.