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How Lord Cataboligne came unto his arcane skills.


I am Lord Cataboligne, an accomplished wizard of the programming arts most arcane. Perhaps it was only 2 decades past. Mind you though it feels more like centuries... This is the tale as it began:

The fledgling wizard Cataboligne said to his Master Lord Freas, "Oh Master so wise, is there not greater than the BASIC arcanum, for it falls short of my goal!" The Master spoke thus; "Cataboligne speak truely, believe you your arcane skill sufficeint to master more complex arcanum? What goal could you have beyond the needs of BASIC?" And the young wizard reply'd, "So might it be Lord Freas...As you know BASIC is bound within the spell of Oh-Ess and cannot go beyond it. I've seen a vision most true where I have become master of the tee-are-ess eighty, and creator of a more powerfull Oh-Ess!"

Lord Freas considered this a while as these were lofty goals indeed. He knew that no ordinary student of the arcanum computę could hope to master the zee-eighty and create a new Oh-Ess at such a young age. Cataboligne, however, was no ordinary student...he was possesed of an instinct for the art the likes of which Lord Freas had never seen. Nor, was he likely to ever see this talent again.

So Lord Freas in his wisdom handed unto his prize pupil a massive tome with a deep blue cover bearing sigils in silver and the powerfull spells for Ay-ess-em magic. As the young wizard stared in awe at the arcane sigils, Lord Freas spoke thus, "Mind this sacred tome well for it is your guide to the zee-eighty, a powerful magic cee-pee-ewe core of the tee-are-ess eighty and many other arcane systems. Learn the intricacy of the dee-buger spell for with it you can fathom all the deep mysteries of the tee-are-ess eighty. Learn also the complex mnemonics of the Ay-ess-em magic so that you might indeed strive to create an Oh-Ess spell of greater power. You would also be wise to study the more powerfull Oh-Ess, Cee-Pee-Em. There you will find an Oh-Ess spell of true flexibility and greatness of which the tee-are-ess eighty Oh-Ess is but a shadow."

Cataboligne did heed the words of his wise teacher very well. The young wizard, one day destined to be a powerful Chaos Lord, delved into the zee-eighty arcanum and learned its ways. He went on to cast a powerful Oh-Ess spell, one that was capable of aiding in the use of other magics beyond the restrictions of the Oh-Ess that BASIC was bound by.



Presenting a chronology of my arcane skills as a programming wizard.


AgeArcane skill(s) - detailed list click here
1982 - 1988 Z80 programming of OS, general utilities, DOS utilities, and programming aids
1984 - 1993 6502 programming of OS extensions, utilities, ASM, BASIC and C programming aids, DOS utilities, powerful debugging tools and much more...
1984 - 1988 Programming languages studied in college - Fortran (I and II), COBOL (I and II), Pascal, C, Assembler (VAX 11/780), computer graphics, Micro Code (computer architecture), and LISP, of all these I was most fluent in C and assembler, my favorites by far
1984 - 1988 VAX 11/780 Shell script language (Job Control) of utilities, command line enhancements and novelties
1986 - 1995 C programming of utilities, games, programming aids, etc on these platforms: Commodore 64, TRS 80 Models III & IV, Amiga 500, VAX 11/780
1996 - present C and C++ programming on unix of custom TCP/IP client - server, unix message routing and control, SQL database manipulation (mostly Informix and Oracle), automated tasks for statistical reporting systems, and other programs serving the communications and database needs of the banking industry on the following unix platforms: NCR SVR4, Solaris Sparc, Netra and Ultras, SCO unixware, and AIX
1996 - 2000 C programming of communication hardware drivers on the Jupiter/Telco platform for the following terminal protocols: MISO async, Burroughs async, 2780/3780 bisync, and 3270 bisync.
1997 - present C++ Builder RAD (rapid application development) programming of client to interface with database and unix communications system control servers, MIS statistical report generator client to manipulate and display data from a database, NT based server for serial port connected host security modules (HSM), merging of delphi modules into C++ builder code, client to record and display any role playing game character data in a fantasy themed format, NT based Network security and monitor client to keep tabs on LAN units and analyze network traffic, client to collect data from auction web sites like Ebay and format data for statistical analysis, Small collection of Network analysis tools
2001 - present Beginning research into Linux based C++ programming RAD tools, plan to port role playing database program to Linux for public release
1994 - present Building, maintenance and repair of PC and unix hardware systems for local office, customers and private contracts - includes ordering hardware, constructing machines from individual components, troubleshooting and replacement of components, hardware upgrades, and handling of systems damaged in shipments...includes work with raid and scsi systems, network interfaces, special communication cards (asycn, bisync terminals, and mainframe serial interfacing), setup of UPS systems
1996 - present Installation, maintenance, upgrades and systems administration of the following OS: windows { XP, 2000, NT, Me, 9x, 3.11 WFW, 3.1, MSDOS }, AIX, SCO unixware, Solaris, NCR SVR4, Various Linux, OS2, Novell 3.12, Jupiter/Telco BSD based Unix, setup and admin of NT domain for windows machines, assisted with installation and administration of windows II's web servers
1996 - present Setup, maintenance, upgrades and administration of the following network environments and protocols: 10 Base 2, 10 Base T and 100 Base TX ethernet, Novell 3.12 IPX/SPX, migration of office from thinnet to star hub topology, management of mixed environment of various windows and various flavors of unix, assisted clients with networking needs related to Jupiter/Telco platform
1996 - present Periodic work on game maps for various quake platforms, includes creating new maps and porting old maps to newer versions of game, also includes porting some popular doom 1 and 2 maps to quake for DM
1982 - present Setup maintenance and repair of the micro computers that came before the PC, first as new machines in the 80's and now as part of the retro-computing revolution, includes the following machines: Commodore 64, 128, 128D, and Colt, Amiga models 500, 1000 and 2000, Atari models 400, 65XE, STf, and STfm, TI 99/4a, TRS-80 models I, III, IV and CoCo, and Timex models 1000 and 1500, and all related hardware components
1990 - present Setup maintenance and repair of the PC's spawn, including: original PC, and various clones of 286, 386, 486, 586, 686, pentium, pentium II, celeron and the hardware related to each of the spawn