John Bradley


Contents


A Brief Biography

November 1964
Born in Philadelphia, PA
 
June 1981
Graduated from Frankford HS, Philadelphia, PA
 
November 1984
Under the guise of 'Captain Infinity', released Berzap! (a clone of the arcade game Berzerk) for the Apple II. Around this time I also assumed control of the KAOS BBS (215-537-KAOS), which ran until around 1990. Don't call - it's long gone!
 
June 1986
Graduated from Drexel University, with a BS in Computer Science
 
September 1986 - November 1993
Worked at the University of Pennsylvania at the GRASP Lab, primarily as a SysLord. Got involved with X programming early (X10R4 on an IBM RT). Wrote xcalc, which is still widely used to this day, and xfish, which isn't. Released xgif back in '88 (or so), which was later supplanted by xv, the first version of which was released in '90 (or thereabouts).
 
February 1994 - October 1995
Worked at the University of Pennsylvania, in the Data Communications and Computing Services department (DCCS) as a network engineer. Released xv 3.10a in December of 1994.
 
October 1995 - present
Left Penn to devote my full efforts toward the xv project, or dicking around with a Sony Playstation, as the case may be.
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Personal Interests

Music
I've been playing guitar for 20+ years. You'd think I'd be better by now... I also play keyboard and bass, and sing (kinda) as needed. Currently, I'm playing in this cover band The Electric Fish with a bunch of other folks who aren't about to quit their day jobs.
 
Pinball
Been playing since I was 5 - this is something I've gotten better at, though I'm no Rick Stetta. Bought my first machine (Bally PowerPlay) in 1980 - still have it. Since then, I've bought nine more, all of which are currently living in my house:
  • 1977 Bally PowerPlay
  • 1972 Bally Hi-Deal
  • 1972 Gottlieb King Kool
  • 1974 Williams StratoFlite
  • 1978 Gottlieb Charlie's Angels
  • 1980 Williams FirePower (The best game ever!!!)
  • 1980 Gottlieb CounterForce
  • 1980 Bally Viking
  • 1977 Gottlieb Big Hit
  • 1979 Bally Paragon
 
As you can see, I'm a big fan of the 70's-era machines, particularly the early SS machines. One of these days I'm gonna have to get a somewhat-modern machine, such as Funhouse, The Addams Family, Twilight Zone, or World Cup Soccer, though of course there are still more old machines that I'd like to get: Pioneer, Space Invaders, Sinbad, World Cup. As of this writing, the only current machine I really like is Attack From Mars.
 
Oh, for what it's worth, you can expect to find me at the annual Pinball Expo held in Chicago (usually in November).
 
Dogs
I'm a breeder of non-champion Basset Hounds. Well, I don't actually breed them, they sort of breed themselves, I just watch. Not that I actually watch...
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Last revised: May 11, 2006.