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Alto Trek
''Alto Trek'' is a computer game, developed by Gene Ball and Rick Rashid for the Xerox Alto while they were graduate students at the University of Rochester during the late 1970s. It is one of the first computer networking, networked multiplayer video game, multiplayer games. Gameplay ''Alto Trek'' is a multiplayer game where each player uses their own Alto workstation to control a starship. The objective of the game is to destroy the enemy without being destroyed. A player can choose between being a Klingon, Romulan, or Starfleet, Terran. The game can be played by one player, but there will be no enemy to destroy. There is no central server that maintains the game state. Each Alto "multicasts" its game information on the shared Ethernet that all players must be on. The "multicast" address on which to rendezvous is a function of the number of stellar systems in the game. Development The manual for version 2.1 is dated August 1979 and authored by Allen Wells, Bob Baldwin, and St ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Ball
Gene Ball is a computer science researcher and computer programmer. Ball obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma, and attended graduate school at the University of Rochester, completing a master's degree and finishing his doctorate in 1982. While at Rochester, he met Rick Rashid, and together they created Alto Trek, one of the earlier networked multiplayer computer games. In 1979, along with Rashid, Ball worked as a researcher Carnegie Mellon University. In 1983, he left academia for two years, spending 1983 and 1984 designing software at Formative Technologies. In 1985, he became an assistant professor at the University of Delaware at Newark. From 1991 until 2001 he was a researcher at Microsoft, leading the Persona Project, which focused on developing lifelike computer characters that could conversationally interact with users. References *Contributor biography in ''Emotions in Humans and Artifacts'', by Robert Trappl Robert Trappl (born 16 January 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alto Trek Screenshot
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian ( Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by either low women's or high men's voices. In vocal classification these are usually called contralto and male alto or countertenor. Such confusion of "high" and "low" persists in instrumental terminology. Alto flute and alto trombone are respectively lower and higher than the standard instruments of the family (the standard instrument of the trombone family being the tenor trombone), though both play in ranges within the alto clef. Alto recorder, however, is an octave higher, and is defined by its relationship to tenor and soprano recorders; alto clarinet is a fifth lower than B-flat clarinet, already an 'alto' instrument. There is even a contra-alto clarinet, (an octave lower than the alto clarinet), with a range B♭0 – D4. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Video Games Based On Star Trek
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) systems which, in turn, were replaced by flat panel displays of several types. Video systems vary in display resolution, aspect ratio, refresh rate, color capabilities and other qualities. Analog and digital variants exist and can be carried on a variety of media, including radio broadcast, magnetic tape, optical discs, computer files, and network streaming. History Analog video Video technology was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) television systems, but several new technologies for video display devices have since been invented. Video was originally exclusively a live technology. Charles Ginsburg led an Ampex research team developing one of the first practical video ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1978 Video Games
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany ''persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet Union, Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allegiance (computer Game)
''Allegiance'' is a multiplayer online game initially developed by Microsoft Research. It is notable for providing a mix of real-time strategy and player piloted space combat gameplay. Although the game was well received upon release, its sales turned out disappointing, selling fewer than 29,000 copies in its first year. Microsoft later released under a proprietary shared source license in 2004 and is maintained and developed by volunteers. In 2017, the license was changed to the free MIT license. Gameplay ''Allegiance'' is an online multiplayer real time strategy/ space simulation game. Players pilot spacecraft (from small one-man vessels to large capital ships), flying in a team with other players and trying to gain victory through various means, such as destroying or capturing all enemy bases, or eliminating the enemy's will to fight. Teams are led by a single Commander who makes tactical decisions and invests in technology and bases. Flight and combat is done in either a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Application Programming Interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build or use such a connection or interface is called an ''API specification''. A computer system that meets this standard is said to ''implement'' or ''expose'' an API. The term API may refer either to the specification or to the implementation. In contrast to a user interface, which connects a computer to a person, an application programming interface connects computers or pieces of software to each other. It is not intended to be used directly by a person (the end user) other than a computer programmer who is incorporating it into the software. An API is often made up of different parts which act as tools or services that are available to the programmer. A program or a programmer that uses one of these parts is said to ''call'' that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DirectX
Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct", such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name ''DirectX'' was coined as a shorthand term for all of these APIs (the ''X'' standing in for the particular API names) and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the ''X'' was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on DirectX technology. The ''X'' initial has been carried forward in the naming of APIs designed for the Xbox such as XInput and the Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT), while the DirectX pattern has been continued for Windows APIs such as Direct2D and DirectWrite. Direct3D (the 3D graphics API within DirectX) is widely used in the develop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washington, United States. Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft Office suite, and the Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface lineup of touchscreen personal computers. Microsoft ranked No. 21 in the 2020 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue; it was the world's largest software maker by revenue as of 2019. It is one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Meta. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multicast
In computer networking, multicast is group communication where data transmission is addressed to a group of destination computers simultaneously. Multicast can be one-to-many or many-to-many distribution. Multicast should not be confused with physical layer point-to-multipoint communication. Group communication may either be application layer multicast or network-assisted multicast, where the latter makes it possible for the source to efficiently send to the group in a single transmission. Copies are automatically created in other network elements, such as routers, switches and cellular network base stations, but only to network segments that currently contain members of the group. Network assisted multicast may be implemented at the data link layer using one-to-many addressing and switching such as Ethernet multicast addressing, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), point-to-multipoint virtual circuits (P2MP) or InfiniBand multicast. Network-assisted multicast may also be impl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starfleet
Starfleet is a fictional organization in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise. Within this fictional universe, Starfleet is a uniformed space force maintained by the United Federation of Planets ("the Federation") as the principal means for conducting deep space exploration, research, defense, peacekeeping, and diplomacy (although Starfleet predates the Federation, having originally been an Earth organization, as shown by the television series ''Star Trek: Enterprise''). While most of Starfleet's members are human and it has been headquartered on Earth, hundreds of other species are also represented. Most of the franchise's protagonists are Starfleet commissioned officers. History During production of early episodes of the original series, several details of the makeup of the ''Star Trek'' universe had yet to be worked out, including the operating authority for the USS ''Enterprise''. The terms ''Star Service'' ("The Conscience of the King"), ''Spacefleet Command'' ("The Squire of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romulan
The Romulans () are an extraterrestrial race in the American science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. They first appeared in the series ''Star Trek'' (1966–1969). They have appeared in most subsequent ''Star Trek'' releases, including '' The Animated Series'', ''The Next Generation'', ''Deep Space Nine'', '' Voyager'', ''Enterprise'', ''Discovery'', '' Picard'', '' Strange New Worlds'', and '' Lower Decks''. They appear in the ''Star Trek'' feature films '' Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'' (1989), '' Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'' (1991), '' Star Trek: Nemesis'' (2002) and ''Star Trek'' (2009). They also appear in various other spin-off media, including books, comics, toys and games. Writer Paul Schneider created the Romulans for the 1966 ''Star Trek'' episode " Balance of Terror". As a basis, he considered what the ancient Roman Empire might have looked like had it developed to the point of spaceflight. Physically, the Romulans were presented as humanoid, but the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klingon
The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''. Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids characterized by prideful ruthlessness and brutality. Klingons practiced feudalism and authoritarianism, with a warrior caste relying on slave labor. With a greatly expanded budget for makeup and effects, the Klingons were completely redesigned for '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' (1979), acquiring ridged foreheads. In subsequent television series and in later films, the militaristic traits of the Klingons were bolstered by an increased sense of honor and strict warrior code similar to those of bushido. Klingons are recurring antagonists in the 1960s television series ''Star Trek'', and have appeared in all subsequent series, along with ten of the ''Star Trek'' feature films. Initially intended to be antagonists for the crew of the USS ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
