S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) (06/06/91)
Hi folks! I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one you find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little joke or a special person or what ? Please write followups, no mail.
bemo@spacsun.rice.edu (Brian D. Moore) (06/06/91)
In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de>, S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) writes: |> Hi folks! |> |> I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one you |> find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little |> joke or a special person or what ? |> Please write followups, no mail. Hey buddy, that's Bob Dobbs, leader of the Church of the Sub-Genius. Slack off! Quit your job! Send your money to Bob!! Repeat after me... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... Bob... -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian D. Moore | Homebrewing -- the only sport exclusively for Space Physics and Astronomy | anal-retentive alcoholics. Rice University, Houston TX | Relax -- have a home brew. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) (06/07/91)
[In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de>,
S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) writes ... ]
> I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one you
> find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little
> joke or a special person or what ?
> Please write followups, no mail.
Bob is indeed a special person, being the revered icon of the Church of the
Sub-Genius.
Speaking of cutting some slack, I flipped through the cable television
channels the other night and caught the last minute or two of a half-hour
Bob special. I don't know what channel it was; we have too many to keep
track of.
----
Steve Yelvington, Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, USA / steve@thelake.mn.orgboyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd) (06/07/91)
In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de>, S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) writes: >Hi folks! > >I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one you >find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little >joke or a special person or what ? >Please write followups, no mail. Bob, from the Church of the Subgenius. Consult your weirdest bookstore for details. -- ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ." email: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | ---------------------------------+-------------------------------------
SYSPMZT@gecrdvm1.crd.ge.com (06/07/91)
In article <A1663047366@thelake.mn.org>, steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) says: > >[In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de>, > S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) writes ... ] > >> I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one >you >> find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little >> joke or a special person or what ? >> Please write followups, no mail. > >Bob is indeed a special person, being the revered icon of the Church of the >Sub-Genius. > Well, now I know why Bob is seen on the dialog box of the ram disk I use. I'd thought that the programmer was really cool to spend the time drawing Bob. Now I know that the real cool person is or was hidden inside Atari while they were developing the machine. For all the deficiencies of the operating system, at least it offers slack to all who seek. Phil Z
roulston@watserv1.waterloo.edu (James Parker) (06/07/91)
In article <1991Jun6.161545.14157@rice.edu> bemo@spacsun.rice.edu (Brian D. Moore) writes: >In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de>, S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) writes: >|> Hi folks! >|> >|> I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one you >|> find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little >|> joke or a special person or what ? >|> Please write followups, no mail. > > Hey buddy, that's Bob Dobbs, leader of the Church of the Sub-Genius. >Slack off! Quit your job! Send your money to Bob!! > So, how do get a look at the Atari character set anyway? Please send em the necessary slack. thanx james
revpk@cellar.UUCP (Brian 'Rev P-K' Siano) (06/08/91)
boyd@nu.cs.fsu.edu (Mickey Boyd) writes: > In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de>, S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (| > >Hi folks! > > > >I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one yo > >find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little > >joke or a special person or what ? > >Please write followups, no mail. > > Bob, from the Church of the Subgenius. Consult your weirdest bookstore for > details. > > -- > ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- > Mickey R. Boyd | "Kirk to Enterprise. All clear > FSU Computer Science | down here. Beam down > Technical Support Group | yeoman Rand and a six-pack . ." > email: boyd@fsucs.cs.fsu.edu | > ---------------------------------+------------------------------------- Or, just join the newsgroup alt.slack. Ask there for details. ====================================================================== Brian Siano, aka [ "Mr. A. Hitler, the old Nazi thing, says [ Mickey's silly. Imagine that! Well, Mickey is Rev. Philosopher-King [ going to save Mr. A. Hitler from drowning or [ something some day. Just wait and see if he revpk@cellar.UUCP [ doesn't. Then won't Mr. A. Hitler be ashamed!" [ -- Walt Disney, 1933. ======================================================================
adw3345@isc.rit.edu (A.D. Williams) (06/10/91)
In article <1991Jun6.131017.12110@ira.uka.de> S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) writes: >Hi folks! > >I wonder if anyone knows who the man smoking a pipe is. You know, the one you >find in the ATARI-ST charset with the codes 28-31 or so. Is he just a little >joke or a special person or what ? >Please write followups, no mail. The character smoking a pipe is generally assumed to be Bob, holder of Slack. Read alt.slack for further information. Derrick -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Derrick Williams - Rochester Institute of Technology | Insert snappy - - adw3345@ritvax - Computer Engineering | quotation here - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) (06/10/91)
Well this Bob Dobbs character (actually 4) is just another example of Atari wastage, along with Bea Hablig et al. I think I would have preferred to see four box corner characters, ala IBM, so that we could make up boxes in text. Now some bright spark is going to say "Why not change the font youself". Why should I have to support 3 resolution (6 if you include the TT) to get such a simple addition. Atari should have put something *useful* in there in the first place. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own ! ! ! ! Neil Forsyth JANET: neil@uk.ac.hw.cs ! ! Dept. of Computer Science ARPA: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk ! ! Heriot-Watt University UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil ! ! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK "That was never 5 characters!" ! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
S_DINGLER@iravcl.ira.uka.de (|S| Florian Dingler) (06/10/91)
Hi folks!
This is what I found out about that man with the pipe. Thanks to all who
answered my question. I included a picture of Bob (see below). Its is the
bit image graphics of the 4 ATARI ST chars (28 to 31).
Hey, that's Bob Dobbs, leader of the Church of the Sub-Genius.
Slack off! Quit your job! Send your money to Bob!!
Bob is indeed a special person, being the revered icon of the Church of the
Sub-Genius.
Consult your weirdest bookstore for details.
Or join newsgroup alt.slack. and ask for details...
#######
#########
######## ##
## # This is Bob Dobbs as found in the
## # ATARI ST charset (chars 28 to 31)
#### #### You could fit his image into two
# ### # # # chars with 8 bit width and 16 bits
# # # height.
# ## # #
## ### ##
## # #
##### #
# ### #
### ####
###davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu (06/10/91)
In article <3188@odin.cs.hw.ac.uk>, neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: > Well this Bob Dobbs character (actually 4) is just another example of Atari > wastage ... Atari should have put something *useful* in there in > the first place. Darnded right! Atari really screwed up. Why didn't they use the IBM character set like a REAL computer would? Come to think of it, why isn't the Atari ST an IBM compatible computer? Gosh, it makes me so mad to think of the large number of *useful* things that could have been done with the ST if only it'd been an IBM compatible. Grow up. There wasn't an official standard for all 256 characters back in '85 -- and there still isn't today. It's only a waste if you believe you *deserve* more than what you supposedly purchased with eyes wide open. -- David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu
rjast1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Robert J Anisko) (06/11/91)
In article <3188@odin.cs.hw.ac.uk> neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: > > >Well this Bob Dobbs character (actually 4) is just another example of Atari >wastage, along with Bea Hablig et al. I think I would have preferred to see >four box corner characters, ala IBM, so that we could make up boxes in text. > So the "smiley face" character in the IBM set is more useful? At least SOMEONE at Atari had a bit of a sense of humor... Besides, how often do you need the entire character set? No flames, just a thought... Robert Anisko rjast1@unix.cis.pitt.edu
neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) (06/11/91)
In article <1991Jun10.155237.1@simvax.labmed.umn.edu> davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu writes (sarcastically :-): >... Come to think of it, why isn't the Atari ST >an IBM compatible computer? Gosh, it makes me so mad to think of the large >number of *useful* things that could have been done with the ST if only it'd >been an IBM compatible. Seriously I've been saying that more and more these days when I see the kind of software you get for PC's. "Is there an ST version" - "Nope" > It's only a waste if you believe you >*deserve* more than what you supposedly purchased with eyes wide open. Well to be honest, back in '86 when I bought my ST I thought I was getting a 16 bit version of the 8-bits. How wrong I was. That machine is the Am*ga since the designers of the 8 bit moved on. As a result I got no fancy hardware and have been doing things the hard way ever since. BTW: Am*ga owners need not follow this article up because I'm not interested. >David Paschall-Zimbel davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu Anyway this discussion started with my calling the Bob Dobbs characters a waste. Sure this sort of thing is commonplace but I think that fun extras like this should only be put in after every serious usage has been covered. I resent the effort Atari put in to hidden messages, useless characters and rainbow fuji logos yet only release new TOS versions once in blue moon and can't be bothered to release new fixed versions once the bugs show up. The smiley face in the PC character set is at least non-specific. +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ! DISCLAIMER:Unless otherwise stated, the above comments are entirely my own ! ! ! ! Neil Forsyth JANET: neil@uk.ac.hw.cs ! ! Dept. of Computer Science ARPA: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk ! ! Heriot-Watt University UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil ! ! Edinburgh, Scotland, UK "That was never 5 flames!" ! +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Graham S Thomas) (06/11/91)
From article <1991Jun10.155237.1@simvax.labmed.umn.edu>, by davidli@simvax.labmed.umn.edu: > Grow up. There wasn't an official standard for all 256 characters back > in '85 -- and there still isn't today. It's only a waste if you believe you > *deserve* more than what you supposedly purchased with eyes wide open. I wonder how many people knew, when they bought their STs, what was contained in characters 28-31 (or whatever the numbers are)? Very few, I suspect. On the other hand, Neil Forsyth's plea for IBM-style text box corners may be felt to be a bit over the top by people who think that the ST wasn't primarily designed to run IBM-style text-based programs. :-) Graham -- Graham Thomas, SPRU, Mantell Building, U of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9RF, UK Email: grahamt@syma.sussex.ac.uk Phone: +44 273 678165 Fax: .. 685865
entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu (maximum entropy) (06/13/91)
In article <3188@odin.cs.hw.ac.uk> neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: >Well this Bob Dobbs character (actually 4) is just another example of Atari >wastage, along with Bea Hablig et al. I think I would have preferred to see >four box corner characters, ala IBM, so that we could make up boxes in text. > >Now some bright spark is going to say "Why not change the font youself". >Why should I have to support 3 resolution (6 if you include the TT) to get >such a simple addition. Atari should have put something *useful* in there in >the first place. Sure, Atari gives you 4 characters of pure slack and you want BOX CORNERS. This just proves you are SQUARE and haven't smoked your daily dosage of frop. Send all your money to "Bob", and you might be forgiven IF YOU ARE LUCKY. The thing I like best about my ST is that "Bob" is in the character set. They should have used 16 characters and given him the space he deserves. entropy -- entropy@gnu.ai.mit.edu entropy. . .it's not just a good idea, it's the second law. Boycott AT&T, Lotus, Apple, Ashton-Tate and Xerox. Join the League for Programming Freedom! Write to league@prep.ai.mit.edu for more information.
ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (David Ritchie) (06/15/91)
>In article <3188@odin.cs.hw.ac.uk>, neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: >> Well this Bob Dobbs character (actually 4) is just another example of Atari >> wastage ... Atari should have put something *useful* in there in >> the first place. > >Darnded right! Atari really screwed up. Why didn't they use the IBM character >set like a REAL computer would? Come to think of it, why isn't the Atari ST >an IBM compatible computer? Gosh, it makes me so mad to think of the large >number of *useful* things that could have been done with the ST if only it'd >been an IBM compatible. The real question is why IBM doesn't have Bob in its character set. Things are getting prettty pink around here, IMHO. -- Dave Ritchie ritchie@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com