Old Guy Does Stuff

Arcade rat of the 70s, computer engineer, lifelong gamer. Posts on retro gaming, hw hacking, arcade, vintage computing, and stuff.

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

[oldguydoesstuff]

are u bi?

Binary? No.

Octal-curious though.

[spooki1i]

went to an arcade with my dad today, it was sick !!

[apatheticshots]

[commodorez]

Three different revisions of the Cactus Video Card Mk II

With three different sets of problems...

[humanoidhistory]

Control room at the Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee, 1974.

[apatheticshots]

[mingos-commodoreblog]

Amiga - Galamiga v1.0

[oldguydoesstuff]

Berzerk appreciation post. I remember encountering this game at University of Hartford's student center in 1981. This Stern Electronics 1980 maze arcade game stood out with its (crude but virtually unprecedented) voice synthesis, taunting players to "fight like a robot" and occasionally saying "coin detected in pocket" on the attract screen as you watched it.

One quirk of this game that always initially confuses me to this day when I play it is how you cannot shoot unless the joystick is out of the neutral position (moving), and how once you start shooting (fire button down) you stop moving.

Thus you cannot move and shoot, and the mechanic takes some getting used to. I have often wondered if this was less of a design choice and more of a limitation of game design experience by Stern Designer Alan McNeil, who left his previous company to work at Stern because he was turned down as a video game design lead due to lack of experience.

Whatever the case, it's very distinct and turned out to have an interesting exploit. If you keep holding the fire button down and move the joystick, you can stay in one spot, but fire in all directions at will.

A notable fan of the game was Eugene Jarvis, legendary game designer for Williams Electronics. He was inspired by the joystick-based firing approach and it influenced his design of Robotron:2084, an early twin stick shooter with similar design aesthetics.

[serverseraphim]

Hidden PCB silkscreen art

Slide 2 of 2

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

What you're looking at is a subtle artistic inside joke within the world of electrical and hardware engineering.

During the design process of PCB's, engineers have to map out the board's silkscreen (aka the nonconductive layer of apoxy ink, typically in white, black or yellow, that is used to indicate components, design, and test points). This is an essential part of circuit board building that is an integral part of the design process, serving as essentially a communicative manual to anyone servicing it, or something fun to find for teardowns. Think of it as a medical diagram to the board's meat and bones. It is layered on top of the solder mask which in turn protects the copper of the board from corrosion.

Many designers opt to put hidden messages, symbols or popculture references within the leftover/non-essential spaces as a fun way to connect them to their work. It's a piece of the artist within the art, and acts as a fun little real life easter egg to anyone brave enough to open up the tech housing it.

They don't serve any functional purpose to the board, but they sure are cool :)

Images and info sourced from flickr, r/hiddenpcbeggs, and pcbgogo

[angelicguy]

i bet girls hated it in 1902 cuz you would constantly go on dates w guys who are working on an invention to present at the world fair

[oldguydoesstuff]

Mold-A-Rama, the miniature plastic factory that has been delighting Chicago tourists since 1962. (And elsewhere.. but honestly it seems like your best selection of machines is probably there, easy to find at the zoo or museums)

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

[humanoidhistory]

Popcorn vending machine, 1975. Photo by Dewey Mears.

[oldguydoesstuff]

Today we just have to hope that the little bag of four Cheez-Its doesn't get stuck in the corkscrew thingy.

How did we stray so far from the light?

[thevaultoftheatomicspaceage]

[ur-not-u]

RED RED RED RED RED

[scipunk]

Westworld (1973)