Author Info

MikeB's Software

Personal Info Career Info Programming as a Hobby Mycroft Systems Post Mycroft Downloads

About The Author

Not that anyone probably cares, but here is a little information about me and how I came to be a freeware author.

I was born and grew up in Montreal, Canada. Like all little well adapted Canadian children I grew up loving the game of hockey (both playing and watching). Growing up in Montreal, I attended a French school and although I spoke English at home, I learned to read and write English from comic books (many thanks to the authors of Casper the Friendly Ghost, Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Spiderman, and others for a fine education).

My family moved to Southern California and I attended Jr. High and High School in Torrance, CA. I later attended University at Cal State University Northridge where I learned a few things about computers and engineering. After working in manufacturing and then sales for a few years I finally got a job in software.

I moved to Northern California in the early 80s and still reside and work there today.

Career Info

As mentioned, after a few years of working in other fields I finally ended up in software. My early years were spent exclusively working in Intel and Zilog assemblers. I wrote firmware (single board computers/devices), operating systems, and device drivers. I did lots of BIOS work.

I got interested in and worked in high resolution graphics for a long stretch. I still hold a couple of patents in that area.

I later returned to my early roots and worked once again in real-time and embedded systems working right at the hardware level. After starting off working "normal" jobs for a few years I then spent over 10 years working as a software consultant. This gave me the opportunity to perform a wide variety of jobs and work for a variety of companies.

Since that time I have returned to working "normal" jobs once again.

Programming as a Hobby

Although I started out at the university studying Electronic Engineering, I was required to take a couple of computer programming. I quickly fell in love with it. Where changes could take days or weeks to make and implement in a hardware design, you could make changes in software in minutes and instantly see the effects of those changes.

As soon as I could, I saved my pennies and purchased a new Imsai 8080 computer kit. It took me a weekend to put together (over 2200 solder connection on the S100 bus board alone). But I could not do much with it. Despite having spent $380 for a 16K memory card and getting a video card from a friend (64x16 text, 128x48 graphics b/w), I still had no keyboard and no storage. I bought a surplus keyboard and wired my own design and S100 board to connect the keyboard to. I was finally ready to go.

Despite my time in college (way back then they did not teach anything about micro computers, and "C" and "Pascal" had not yet been invented) I had to teach myself to program. I could not afford to by a Basic interpreter (and had not storage devices anyways) so I taught myself 8080 assembler. I wrote my programs on paper and then toggled the code into the computer on the front panel switches. I wrote several simple video games. Thankfully I later purchased am 8" single side single density floppy drive (243K formatted) and procured a copy of CP/M. It's assembler and Basic, along with the diskette storage, made life much simpler.

I wrote my first published game while working for Vector Graphics. I wrote a Z80 based version of Othello in Z80 assembler. Also while at Vector Graphics I wrote a version of Space Invaders. Both were written to run on their display adapter (80x25 text, 160x75 graphics b/w). Both of these games were distributed free of charge along with all of Vector Graphics computers. Sorry, but I don't have the sources for these programs any more.

Along came the IBM PC. I was not impressed at first, but with my work I eventually had to use and program them. I ported my Z80 Othello into 8088 Othello. I distributed this as freeware and even won a prize for a freeware program for it (prize was $100 in software from the company). You can, if you like, download this program below.

Mycroft Systems

During the late 1980s I became aware of a fad called "Computer Bulletin Boards". These were computers that you could call with a modem. They including messaging systems, file uploads and downloads, and online games called "Doors". These door programs were external to the BBS (Bulletin Board System) software itself and most were written by third party programmers.

I started my own computer bulletin board with a single telephone line and called it "Mycroft Systems" (Mycroft is Sherlock Holmes older brother who is a lawyer, and also Mycroft is a computer/character who leads a rebellion on the moon in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by I. Isamov (one of my favorite books). I immediately started learning about various BBS systems and began writing my own door programs. I developed a software library called DMLIB (Door Manager Library) which contained all the code to interface with a large number of the most popular BBS programs and also performed all the serial I/O with the modem, and handled screen manipulation using ANSI terminal escape sequences.

I wrote quite a few door programs starting with Sherlock Holmes and included my "giant" door called Stellar Quest which sported a galaxy with 10,000 sectors and could support 1,000s of planets each of which contained 10,000 locations. Stellar Quest was a game of exploration, commerce, and war.

All of the Mycroft door programs were written in Microsoft "C" (either version 4.x or later 5.x) and were sold as shareware (I had to support my BBS somehow). Most of these doors can be downloaded below (source included) in the event you are interested. I regret that Mycroft Casino 3.00 was lost due to several bad sectors on the floppy it was archived on and that I lost Wizard Wars (except the docs). In any case, all of the Mycroft Doors are now freeware. You can do what you like with them with the exception that you may not sell them directly or modified to run on any other systems.

Note: All the Mycroft Doors can be run on current PC Windows platforms using a MS-DOS command console with ANSI.SYS support. All door programs have a "local" mode that does not require a serial/modem connection. All of these programs are ANSI/Text mode programs.

Post Mycroft

After Mycroft Systems, I took a bit of a breather from writing software as a hobby with the exception of writing programs for my own purposes. Back around six or seven years ago I discovered AutoIt. I had already played around with several scripting languages and I was looking for a good one that I could use when writing utilities for myself. AutoIt 2.x was not what version 3.x is today (very limited GUI capabilities), but I liked the language and I began to use it on a regular basis for writing my own utilities and front end programs.

When AutoIt version 3 was released with all of it's GUI based support I was in heaven. I decided I could now write actual applications quickly and easily.

I next discovered "portable" software applications, and/or the lack of them, after purchasing and making extensive use of a USB FlashDrive device. Looking for a good bookmark manager that would be 100% portable, free, and run from the system tray, I was sad to find that I could not find one. That is when I decided to write TrayURL.

Downloads

The following software is available (it's old, so it is all "as is") and is now freeware. Do as you please (but as mentioned, you can't sell it):

Program Name Target Environment Description

8088 Othello MS-DOS
CGA Graphics The classic game of Othello (sometimes called Reversi). Written in Microsoft Assembler for MS-DOS.

DM Library MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics The Mycroft Door Manager Library. This is the code that makes all of the door programs work. Has BBS interfaces, serial port interfaces, and ANSI terminal/graphics support.

Fictitious Stock Exchange MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door game is a stock market simulator. All stock types are included such as options, common and preferred stock, warrants, and bonds. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Mycroft Casino (version 2) MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door game offers a variety of casino games. It does not have the animations available in version 3 nor does it offer as many games. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Opinion Poll MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door was not a game. Instead the door is a program that was designed to allow BBS users the opportunity to participate in opinion polls. The program supports several poll types. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Remote Bulletin Editor MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door was not a game. Instead the door was designed to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOps to remote edit the BBS bulletins. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Remote Poll Editor MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door was not a game. Instead the door was designed to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOps to remote edit opinion polls for the Opinion Poll door program. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Remote Shell MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door was not a game. Instead it worked with a third party program to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOp to remote access the computer via a shell program. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Sherlock Holmes MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door game was my very first door program. It is a simple game where you play Sherlock Holmes and must solve a case by moving around London before time runs out. The program allows the SysOp to add their own cases. It is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Stellar Quest MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics Stellar Quest was probably the Cadillac of BBS door programs. It has a very large source and took over four months to write a debug. The program was written using Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

Text Door MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door program was not a game. It was a general purpose door to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOp to remotely edit text files. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

U-Boat MS-DOS
BBS
ANSI Graphics This door game allows the player to command a destroyer. He must attempt to escort the cargo ships across the sea and prevent them from being sunk by a U-Boat. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.

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Program Name	Target Environment	Description
8088 Othello	MS-DOS CGA Graphics	The classic game of Othello (sometimes called Reversi). Written in Microsoft Assembler for MS-DOS.
DM Library	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	The Mycroft Door Manager Library. This is the code that makes all of the door programs work. Has BBS interfaces, serial port interfaces, and ANSI terminal/graphics support.
Fictitious Stock Exchange	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door game is a stock market simulator. All stock types are included such as options, common and preferred stock, warrants, and bonds. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Mycroft Casino (version 2)	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door game offers a variety of casino games. It does not have the animations available in version 3 nor does it offer as many games. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Opinion Poll	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door was not a game. Instead the door is a program that was designed to allow BBS users the opportunity to participate in opinion polls. The program supports several poll types. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Remote Bulletin Editor	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door was not a game. Instead the door was designed to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOps to remote edit the BBS bulletins. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Remote Poll Editor	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door was not a game. Instead the door was designed to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOps to remote edit opinion polls for the Opinion Poll door program. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Remote Shell	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door was not a game. Instead it worked with a third party program to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOp to remote access the computer via a shell program. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Sherlock Holmes	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door game was my very first door program. It is a simple game where you play Sherlock Holmes and must solve a case by moving around London before time runs out. The program allows the SysOp to add their own cases. It is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Stellar Quest	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	Stellar Quest was probably the Cadillac of BBS door programs. It has a very large source and took over four months to write a debug. The program was written using Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
Text Door	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door program was not a game. It was a general purpose door to allow the SysOp or assistant SysOp to remotely edit text files. The program was written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.
U-Boat	MS-DOS BBS ANSI Graphics	This door game allows the player to command a destroyer. He must attempt to escort the cargo ships across the sea and prevent them from being sunk by a U-Boat. The program is written in Microsoft "C" and uses the DMLIB library.