Star Trek - The Official Starships Collection Issue 1 Review

I'm not one for subscribing to magazines - after all, most of the stuff I want to read can be found on the internet for free.  In fact, the last magazine I did subscribe to was the Commodore 64 mag "Zzap 64" in the late 80's!  However, after watching an advert on TV last Tuesday about a new series of Star Trek magazines that come complete with a detailed model ship with each issue, I just had to subscribe...

Today I got my first issue of "Star Trek The Official Starships Collection", and with it came a fantastic model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D from Star Trek : The Next Generation.  The magazine itself is nothing special - a glossy mag with a few original drawings by Andrew Probert, some other photos which can be found online or in other books, and a bit of information about the ship.  To be honest, the magazine is just a bonus extra as I'm sure most people will be buying this series solely for the models, although with the binder that will be available to subscribers I'm sure the magazines will become a nice library once complete.

The model itself is not very big and measures about 140mm in length, but what is impressive is the amount of detail on the ship.  You can see windows, escape pods, and texturing on the hull is fantastic.  Also, the model has been made using die-cast metal and ABS plastic, so it doesn't look cheap.  This is no toy, but it does seem strong (and heavy) enough to take a bit of punishment from young hands.  Fortunately it comes with a nice display stand which is individually numbered.

Issue 1 cost a silly £1.99, so for that price, you can't really complain.  Issue 2 comes with the USS Enterprise Refit from Star Trek The Motion Picture and will be priced at £5.99.  All subsequent issues will then be £9.99 each which does seem a lot, but if the quality of the models remain the same as this, then I think it's a price worth paying.  The publisher Eaglemoss Collections hope to release 70 issues at least (once a fortnight), not including specials, and have issued a tentative list of all issues and ships (which you can see below).  Personally, I can't wait for issues 8 and 11 (USS Excelsior and USS Reliant)!

Provisional list of issues

◾01 USS Enterprise-D
◾02 USS Enterprise (refit)
◾03 Klingon Bird-of-Prey
◾04 Enterprise NX-01
◾05 Romulan Warbird
◾06 USS Voyager
◾07 K't'inga-class
◾08 USS Excelsior
◾09 USS Defiant
◾10 Borg sphere
◾11 USS Reliant
◾12 Ferengi Marauder
◾13 Akira-class
◾14 Vor'cha-class
◾15 Prometheus-class
◾16 Valdore-type
◾17 USS Equinox
◾18 Bajoran Solar Sailer
◾19 USS Enterprise-E
◾20 Xindi-Insectoid starship
◾21 Raptor-class
◾22 Jem'Hadar fighter
◾23 Nebula-class
◾24 Suurok-class
◾25 Delta Flyer
◾26 Breen warship
◾27 Krenim weapon ship
◾28 USS Enterprise-C
◾29 Galor-class
◾30 USS Stargazer
◾31 Borg Queen's vessel
◾32 Jem'Hadar battle cruiser
◾33 Maquis fighter
◾34 Romulan Bird-of-Prey (23rd century)
◾35 Hirogen warship
◾36 T'Plana-Hath (starship)
◾37 Prototype Klingon Bird-of-Prey
◾38 USS Enterprise-J
◾39 Son'a Command ship
◾40 Runabout
◾41 D-5-class
◾42 Romulan drone-ship
◾43 USS Enterprise-B
◾44 Jem'Hadar battleship
◾45 Malon export vessel
◾46 Federation mission scoutship
◾47 Scimitar
◾48 USS Relativity
◾49 Tholian starship (22nd century)
◾50 Goroth's starship
◾51 USS Kelvin
◾52 Son'a collector
◾53 Xindi-Reptilian starship
◾54 Oberth-class
◾55 Suliban cell ship
◾56 Phoenix
◾57 Fesarius
◾58 Steamrunner-class
◾59 Xindi-Aquatic cruiser
◾60 Vulcan Long range shuttle
◾61 Saber-class
◾62 Hideki-class
◾63 USS Enterprise-A
◾64 Romulan Bird-of-Prey (22nd century)
◾65 USS Dauntless
◾66 Federation holoship
◾67 Scorpion-class
◾68 Norway-class
◾69 USS Enterprise
◾70 Species 8472 bioship

NO NUMBERS
◾Borg probe
◾Cousteau (Captain's Yacht)
◾Borg cube
◾Galileo

SPECIALS (available to Subscribers only)
◾Deep Space 9
◾USS Enterprise (alternate reality - ST2009 and STID)
◾Future USS Enterprise-D ("All Good Things...")
◾Space Stations

The mag. Highly recommended.

Techy Post - Have you forgotten the local administrator password?

Ever had an occasion when you've removed a computer from a domain, and can't remember the administrator password to log on locally?  I've been guilty of this on several occasions (I had it last week when I removed a domain controller from the network, and was left with a file server that I could not log in to!)

I know there are various utilities that enable you to reset the password, but this is a useful way of doing it without any hacks, or third party tools.  This works with Windows 7 and Server 2008.  Although I haven't tested it on other versions of Windows, I don't see why it won't work on those.

• Boot your PC from your Windows 7/Server 2008 installation Disk.
• When you are prompted, choose your language.
• Select partition and installation version and click next.
• Select Repair your Computer
• Select Command Prompt (Open a command prompt window)
• Type the following :-
• cd c:\windows\system32
• move utilman.exe utilman.exe.bak
• copy cmd.exe utilman.exe
• Restart your computer

At the logon prompt, hold down the Windows Key and press U at the same time.  This will now bring up the command prompt instead of the Utility Manager.

From the command line, type :-
net user administrator P455word

Try logging on with the new password - Voila!

Don't forget to copy back the original utilman.exe file.

Mastertronic - What if? : The Last of Us

Mastertronic brings you "The Last of Us" for £1.99, only for the Playstation 3, Commodore, Amstrad, Spectrum and Atari  - Available from all good newsagents, chemists and game shops!

If only..... :o)

Because I have WAY too much time on my hands, I thought I'd mess around with putting together some fake Mastertronic covers for modern computer games.

In case you are not aware (or can not remember), Mastertronic were big in the mid to late 1980s and were a major budget software label in the United Kingdom and produced a large number of cheapo games and re-releases for the Commodore/Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari 8-bit computers (and some 16-bit too) - most at a pocket-money-friendly £1.99!

Just a bit of fun really, but what would modern games look like if Mastertronic still released games like the good ol' days? Well, here you can find out!

 

Click to enlarge

 

Click to enlarge - I bet this would be one hell of a mult-load game!

 

You can view more of my fake Mastertronic covers by clicking here

Busy, busy, busy....

Bit of a change to the usual posts here at the Captain's Blog.  These past few weeks have been quite busy at work, what with it being that magical time of the year when we all get our budgets for the year, and can start spending cash on some fancy new items for school. 

This year, we've kitted out two rooms with some fancy new computers and I thought I'd share some pictures with you of the finished rooms.  If only we had this kind of technology when I was at school.

The kids of today are extremely lucky!

Big thanks to the team for helping to get everything done during the May half-term holiday in time for when the staff and students returned the following week.

HU4 - Before

This room had some awfully slow Celeron desktops in it.

 

HU4 - After

They're not new, but we've placed some slightly better spec PCs in the room.  Looking good!

 

LU5 - Before
This room had the computers which are now in HU4.

 

LU5 - After
Now with some nice, and very quick i3 all-in-ones desktop PCs

 

LG1 - Before
This room wasn't too bad - It had a number of Core 2 Duo computers, but desk space was a problem.  They've been moved to another room, and....

 

LG1 - After
Now kitted out with some Acer Veriton Z2610 i3 all-in-one desktop PCs, like LU5

 

AND, just today we've had a delivery of a nice, shiny new server - an HP Proliant ML350 G8 with 2 quad core processors and 32Gb of RAM...  Perfect for my virtualisation plan.....  More on that in the near future.

 

Father Christmas (aka the UPS Courier) has arrived early this year!

 

Inside the beast!

 

So all in all... it hasn't been a bad couple of weeks.  Hard to believe that another school year has nearly reached its end.  Even harder to believe is that next year will be my 10th year at Evesham High School - gosh, where has the time gone?

Mastertronic - What if? (Part 4) - Star Trek

Mastertronic brings you "Star Trek" for £1.99, only for the Playstation 3 - Available from all good newsagents, chemists and game shops!

If only..... :o)

Because I have WAY too much time on my hands, I thought I'd mess around with putting together some fake Mastertronic covers for modern computer games.

In case you are not aware (or can not remember), Mastertronic were big in the mid to late 1980s and were a major budget software label in the United Kingdom and produced a large number of cheapo games and re-releases for the Commodore/Spectrum/Amstrad/Atari 8-bit computers (and some 16-bit too) - most at a pocket-money-friendly £1.99!

Just a bit of fun really, but what would modern games look like if Mastertronic still released games like the good ol' days? Well, here you can find out!

 

 

 

 

You can view more of my fake Mastertronic covers by clicking here

Games that remind me of my childhood Number 21 : Winter Events (Commodore Plus 4)

 

These days, people think it was the Nintento Wii that brought families together to play computer games... Wrong!

Back in the 80’s there was a sudden boom of Olympic sporting games.  Epyx were famous for the Winter and Summer Games series (amongst many others), Activision brought out Decathlon, and Ocean had a series of Daley Thompson themed Olympic titles.  Each of these games would allow a number of players to compete against one another in several events.   Many are infamous for causing joysticks to break due to the vigorous waggling of the joystick necessary to play the events!

Of course, at the time these games came out, I only had a Commodore Plus 4, and none of those great games came out on that system (ok, besides the joystick-unfriendly Daley Thompsons Star Events).  I remember a friend of the family bringing his Commodore 128 round to our house one evening, and showing us Summer Games, and I was wishing something similar would come out on our beloved Plus 4.

It took a while, but in 1986 it finally happened.  Udo Gertz, programmer for some great Commodore Plus 4 games such as Tom Thumb and Ghost Town finally released Winter Events, published by Anco (remember them?)

The game featured six events, consisting of Biathlon, Slalom, Ski Jump, Speed Skating, Bobsled and Down Hill Skiing, all featuring some of the best graphics ever seen on the system.  Indeed, some rivalled that of Epyx’s very own Winter Games.

The opening ceremony

 

The game starts with a very impressive opening ceremony, showing an athlete lighting the Olympic torch.  Although very impressive, I have never understood why the theme tune to the TV show Dallas is played during this!

Menu

 

Once the introduction is finished, you are then taken to the Menu screen.  From here you can select the number of players (1-4), choose whether you want to compete in all the events, or just a few.  You can also practice an event, and load/save your world records to tape or disk.  Once you have selected the game mode, you then have to enter your name and select the country you wish to play for.  Once all of that is done, it’s time to play the events.

Biathlon

The first event was the Biathlon, and it was probably one of my favourites.   It’s a simple event that had you moving the joystick left and right to ski (and up and down to ski down hills).  You had to complete six laps of the course (each lap being only 3 screens long!), and occasionally take part at shooting targets with your rifle.  Quite odd that your character was green though!

Slalom

Next is the Slalom.   While most games of this type viewed the course from an aerial view, this one had the camera directly behind the skier (just like a car simulator), and had you swerving between the flags at crazy speeds!  Quite difficult at first, but once you’ve learnt the course it is easy to complete in a fast time without having any faults.

Ski Jump

On to the next event – The Ski Jump.  Pretty simple this time.  Press fire to begin down the slope, and just as you’re about to reach the end, press the fire button again to jump.  You then needed to use the joystick to position the ski jumper so that he aerodynamically flew through the air, and then land straight, otherwise your jumper would crash on landing.

Speed Skating

Speed Skating is the next event, and it also was my least favourite.  Simply move the joystick left and right in time to the skater’s legs.  Fortunately this wasn’t your typical joystick waggler, so there was no need to frantically move the joystick (and risk breaking it!)  This was also the only event in Winter Events which allowed you to play two players at the same time, assuming you had two joysticks.

Bobsled

Onwards to the Bobsled event.  This is another of my favourites.  The screen was split in to two sections.  A map of the course was shown on the right, and your progress was indicated by a red line.  The left side of the screen was a cutaway view of the track, with the camera directly behind the bobsled.  As you would approach each bend, you had to compensate using the joystick so that you didn’t flip over.  Great fun!

Downhill

Finally, the last event was the Downhill.  This was very similar to the Slalom event, except you did not need to swerve between the flags.  It’s all pretty much downhill, travelling as fast as you could without colliding with any trees.  As with the Slalom, once you had memorised the course, it was very easy to complete in a fast time.

The final results

And that’s it.  Once all the events were completed, a final screen would be displayed showing your character(s) on the podium, and the final results.

Now as most of you know, I hate sport with a passion.  However, I and my family would play this for hours and it was great because it was once of the few occasions that would bring us all together.   We spent countless hours playing this, and it was fortunate that Udo Gertz released a sequel not long later – Summer Events.

A wonderful game, that still plays well today.  I really miss those days when all four of us  would sit around the living room TV playing this.

The cover

Instructions

The tape.