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©1999, Lockergnome LC. All Rights Reserved. Subscription inquiries are answered below. Content written by Chris Pirillo. Website hosted by DigitalDaze. The name is Baud... James Baud.


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Lockergnome
01.20.1999 - GnomeREPORT

Coin-op video games are still around, but now that consoles have flooded the market, those stand-up machines aren't as much fun as they used to be. Can you remember Dragon's Lair? It was a cartoon that you could (really) play. Apparently, the game was stored on a laserdisc (of course, I wouldn't have known that as a ten-year-old). I recently discovered that there's a company in Canada (Digital Leisure) which is distributing Dragon's Lair & other cartoon video game classics on CD and DVD-ROM! Ya know, like Space Ace? Anyway...

I got my hands on the Dragon's Lair DVD version, which includes all the scenes (remastered) from the original laserdisc. I was excited to finally be able to play the game without wasting my entire month's allowance on it. And here's the kicker--you can play the DVD either on your computer or in a regular DVD player with your remote control! Well, Manny III is the only DVD player I have, so I could only test this DVD game on the PC. Heck, if you don't want to play the game, you don't have to--there's a built-in option to watch it. Ya know, just in case you can't beat it.

This is pretty much just like I remembered it from the arcade. The sound quality seems to be better (AC3) and the screen is a bit smaller, but the video quality is superb. I had problems playing it with all the DVD players I have installed on Manny III--the disc would skip & not respond correctly to my keyboard commands (most likely software issues). However, I'm sure that you won't run into problems if you try this on a "real" DVD player with a remote control. It's a blast from the past--and definitely one you'll want to show your friends. If you wasted dollar upon dollar on Dragon's Lair in the '80s, then I'm sure you can afford to own your own copy today.

For more info, visit the Digital Leisure website.

-- Chris Pirillo        


GnomePROGRAM

Txt2Web v1.5.0 [978k] W9x/NT US$25

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/9709/txt2web/t2web150.zip
http://www.virdi.demon.co.uk/

Everybody has text files sitting around on their hard drive. What if you've got a text file that you'd much rather see as a web page? Sure, it wouldn't be fancy or anything (after all, it's just text). But what's the easiest way to turn a text file into a working HTML file? Well, it won't get much simpler than this, gang. Just select which text file you'd like to convert to HTML, how you want it converted, and this program will do the rest. It'll automatically translate http, ftp, mailto, etc. tags wherever necessary. In a matter of seconds, you've made a "working" web page. This is a no-nagged (albeit feature limited) shareware version.


GnomeSYSTEM

Grim Fandango Patch 1 [2.2M] W9x

ftp://ftp.lucasarts.com/patches/pc/gfupd101.exe
http://www.lucasarts.com/products/grim/grim_spotlight.htm

Manny Calavera is better than ever with his first update. "This patch fixes reported problems associated with having a very fast machine (Pentium II-400 and faster), a crash associated with copying over all the .LAB files from users' CDs to their hard drives, and some other problems." Perhaps I'll have to play it again now!


GnomeCANDY

SimCity Classic LIVE

http://www.simcity.com/classic/classic.html

SimCity 3000 should be on the shelves by the time you read this. If you can't afford to purchase the new game, yet still want to see what the SimExcitement is all about, load up this page. You can play the original SimCity online and chat with other players in real-time... for FREE! They're doing this to help celebrate the release of SimCity 3000. It's just like I remembered it way back when... and ya know, for being a 10-year old game, the classic SimCity hasn't lost its charm. Be sure to check out how Will Wright created the original SimCity, too!


GnomeFAVORITE

Cut-N-Paste JavaScript

http://www.infohiway.com/javascript/indexf.htm

I was sitting around the other day and thinking: "Wow, there are a lot of different JavaScript sites out there. But, they don't seem to be updated all that often." Then this gem fell into my lap, courtesy of the same people who write the fantastic "ad" software package, AdCafe (review coming soon). Anyway, this particular site covers JavaScript, Perl, CSS and various Plug-ins--and they've got a monthly newsletter, so you shouldn't be more than a few weeks away from getting the latest JavaScript scoop. The holidays have put them behind a little bit with their issues, but there's still plenty of scripts to be seen (and used) here.


GnomeDESKTOP

THEME: Dreamer [480k]

http://users.solve.net/~wegie/Dreamer4.zip
http://users.solve.net/~wegie/

Close your eyes, and think of a mythical creature. Okay, you can open them now (of course, how would you know that if your eyes were closed). What's the first one that pops into your head. If it was a gnome, you're in my good graces forever. If it was a dwarf, close--but no cigar. If it was an elf, the North Pole is a long way away. If it was a unicorn, you're right on the money... as far as this theme is concerned. Try not to get impaled while you're installing it, please?


GnomeTIP

There's a lot of white and wasted space in Windows 9x/NT4. Part of that has to do with the default icon spacing settings. One of the FIRST things I do after reinstalling Windows is set my icon spacing to a more appropriate level. Right-click on the Desktop, select Properties, click the Appearance tab, click on the Item drop-down list, look for Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and Icon Spacing (Vertical). NOTE: write down the original settings in case you want to reverse this later. I've (personally) found that setting both of these numbers to 32 works best. Be sure to refresh (or re-line up) your explorer windows, including the Desktop. It'll save some space.