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u
MEET STEPHEN JUDD
The Commodore Gallery
Text by Dave Moorman
Thanks to JPZ, the JPEG image
viewer written by Stephen Judd and
Adrian Gonzolez, we Sixtyfourians can
now enjoy photos and other images made
for other computers.
[NOTE:] Rendering a JPEG takes time.
See below.
It is only fitting that our first
installment of The Commodore Gallery
looks at Steve. Much of what we have
is in his own words, ripped from his
web site. So, print out this article,
Run the JPZ View program, and enjoy
visiting with this bright star in the
C= galaxy.
Stephen Judd grew up in northern
New Mexico, got his Ph.D. at
Northwestern University in Evanston,
IL (north edge of Chicago) then
returned to Los Alamos to work for the
government. Exactly what Steve does is
not to be bandied about in an
international disk digest. What he
does it on is one of the fastest
computers known to humanity.
So friends and associates alike
ask:
WHAT kind of computer did you say
you use at home?
"A Commodore 64, of course.
"Well, what can I say? After
spending years with the big and
expensive modern computers, I decided
to go back to using a computer which
was actually fun.
"Fun to use, fun games, and
extremely fun to program -- pure
computing satisfaction.
"Let's face it; computing is no
longer fun. It is extremely expensive
and often very frustrating. And there
is a rather dull sameness to computer
hardware and software -- the same as
other programs, and just a bigger/
faster version of last year's hardware
and software. There is a distinct lack
of imagination and inventiveness these
days. Ho hum, how droll.
"But then there's the amazing
little 64, king of the amazing 8-bit
computers. A guy can understand every
bit of every byte of the machine, and
still think up new things to do with
it. The older games and such are still
awfully cool. And the new hardware is
quite nifty too -- users today have
megabytes of RAM, large hard drives,
and high speed modems, among other
clever gadgets."
When it comes to clever software
gadgets, Steve is one of the great
innovators. Here is the listing of
programs and other stuff he has put on
his web page -- The Fridge: A Code
Storage Unit. (Note: I just ripped
this list and removed neat stuff that
was obviously by others. Anything
below that is [not] by Steve is
certainly something he considers very
useful for C= programmers.)
[Magazines]
C=Hacking (Steve became editor of
C=Hacking on issue #17)
disC=overy (Co-editor)
[SuperCPU]
pppatch: 24-bit peek/poke load/save
patch.
detect-scpu.s: Routine to detect a
65816.
brixpack.s: SuperCPU pack/depack
routine.
[Utilities]
kobb.s: My custom "kernal" routines:
block move, string/number
manipulation, screen i/o, etc.
ascii32.s: A routine to convert a 32
bit number to ASCII and print it
to the screen.
ascii2bin.text: A description of an
ASCII to binary number converter.
hextodec.txt: Another routine to
convert hex/decimal numbers to
strings, and vice-versa.
numinput.txt: Another routine for
reading in numbers from keyboard.
8to9.txt: A routine for converting
between eight- and nine-bit
numbers.
[Programs]
Sirius: 65816 Assembler (massively
upgraded El Cheapo)
jpx/jpz: JPEG viewers for the C64.
obj3d: The 3d object library, for
creating 3D worlds.
El Cheapo Assembler: A 65816
assembler for the SCPU.
Tunesmith: A powerful music
composer.
supermon.s: Original SuperMON
source code.
super64.o: Original SuperMON
binary.
jammon: A SuperCPU ML monitor.
lib3d: The 3d toolbox.
Blahtune: A music composer.
BLARG1.0: Basic Language Graphics
extension (hires bitmapped).
To get a perspective on the rest
of Steve's life, check out his
observations on and interest in
astronomy and music.
"I had the good fortune of growing
up in a small mountain town with
clear, unpolluted skies. And like much
of my good fortune I was too dumb to
recognize or take advantage of it. By
the time I hit graduate school, I was
pretty interested in science, and so
was interested in things like black
holes and the universe in general --
but still never went out looking at
stars.
"Towards the end of graduate
school, while writing my Ph.D. thesis,
I thought it would be nice to buy my
dad a telescope for Christmas, as he
used to do a fair amount of
stargazing. So I began researching the
issue -- and became so doggone
interested, nay, obsessed, that I
started to figure, heck with 'ol dad.
"Not very healthy as far as a
Ph.D. thesis is concerned, and Chicago
isn't exactly a prime observing spot,
but I was able to get in a bunch of
good observing sessions, both with
friends and alone. (In fact, once I
got busted by the cops, for being in a
forest preserve after sundown, which
made me feel like a REAL astronomer).
"Now, it just so happens that I
got a job in the same town as dear old
dad, and knew I would be staying at
his place until I found one of my own,
so...
"I bought an 8 inch Newtonian
scope (Celestron Starhopper, if you're
interested) for dad (i.e. me!). Those
clear mountain skies are just perfect
for deep sky observing.
"Naturally I took it for several
test drives before wrapping it up. I
mean, this is my dad, right? I don't
want to give him something that
doesn't even work, right? And I was
never alone with Miss Lewinsky,
right?
"For myself, I also bought a pair
of binoculars. Between the binos and
the scope I have had many thoroughly
enjoyable viewing sessions, both in
Chicago and in Los Alamos. As a rank
amateur, I can only look forwards to
all the new adventures and discoveries
to come.
"I enjoy performing music,
listening to music, and writing music.
I began playing violin when I was five
and played through high school, but
wasn't all that good (probably because
I didn't practice much). Midway
through college, I started taking it
seriously.
"I bought a beautiful new violin
the summer before my senior year in
college. In graduate school I got to
play in several chamber groups. It
turned out our department had several
musicians in it. I also played in
summer orchestra one year. I would
love to play regularly again, so if
anyone out there in the northern New
Mexico area wants to play, please
email me!
"I also figured out how to sing
while in graduate school, and sang
with a good church choir for several
years.
"Currently I direct a youth choir,
recently started a handbell choir, and
sometimes sing in an adult choir. I
also sometimes play in the community
orchestra.
"I also enjoy listening to music.
I used to make tapes off the radio
when I was 5 or so, and still have a
few. I grew up listening to rock and
roll, later learned to like classical
(helpful for a violinist...), and more
recently have gotten strongly into
jazz. I sure do listen to a lot of
jazz these days -- I'd even like to
learn to improvise on piano -- so
email me if you want to talk some
jazz, or suggest some stuff for me to
listen to, or, heck, talk about any
good music.
"Finally, I became inte ested in
music composition a few years back. I
wrote a composition program for my
computer, and have used it to write
several tunes. Composition is really
unexplored territory for me, but very
enjoyable -- a different kind of
problem solving than usual."
Steve and Laura married this
August. We wish them the best --
hoping, of course, that marital bliss
does not interfere [too] much with
Steve's other love!
DMM
[WARNING]
We do need to warn you if you have
not used JPZ before: rendering a JPEG
image takes quite awhile --
4 minutes on a stock 64.
2 minutes on VICE in Warp Mode.
0.75 minutes with a Super CPU.
Also, VICE and other emulator users
MUST switch on True Drive. The Drive
Setting must be on 1581 (for a D81
LOADSTAR). Then press <Alt-O><T>.
(Then again, if you are using an
emulator, copy the file "A" to a
regular subdirectory on you PC, rename
it to "steve.jpg", and look at it in
full VGA splendor.)
DMM