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Typewriter Hacked To Play Zork
UgLyPuNk writes "Typewriters that can type by themselves are one thing. Typewriters that can type by themselves and play Zork are totally different — the stuff that dreams are made of (at least the dreams of little girls who spent hours in front of a Commodore 64 telling the machine to GO NORTH and such)."
http://www.computermuseumgroningen.nl/terminals/teletypeclose.jpg
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
...though we called it a "printer". Also, are there any pictures of the thing from the front? Not everyone has the ability to view videos. All I can see are some internals pictures on the project page.
At least for me: http://vimeo.com/16311288
This post was generated by a Cadre of Uber Monkeys for Monkey-Man2000 (603495).
...though we called it a "printer". Also, are there any pictures of the thing from the front? Not everyone has the ability to view videos. All I can see are some internals pictures on the project page.
Printers don't generally accept feedback. I know you can't view the video but what you see is a typewriter (with the keys moving) typing out the opening to Zork and then the user issuing it a few commands on the same typewriter keys that then come back to life and respond. This level of interaction is unique and I've never seen a "printer" with that sort of functionality. If you're interested in how it displays the output:
computer to Arduino (via USB); Arduino to shift registers; shift registers to MOSFETs; MOSFETs to solenoids; solenoids to keys.
And to acquire input flattened resistors are placed beneath each key and are converted into a serialized device signal to the computer via USB. Not exactly earth shattering work but for the hobbyist that likes to see clever hacks and remembers Zork, it's a grin achieving piece of work.
My work here is dung.
My very first computer game was TREK.BAS, hosted on a city hall computer and played on a DecWriter paper terminal hidden in a janitor's closet at my St. Petersburg, FL middle school.
Why the janitor's closet? Because that's where they could get to a phone line.
This machine could replicate that experience.
(OK, well, you'd have to pour some ammonia and pine sol on it, to really take me back, but I'm talking about the game...)
I can see the fnords!
No, not why did they do it - that part is obvious. Rather, why did they write such a short meaningless summary and then embed a flash 10 video in it? The website is damned close to worthless for anyone who isn't running the latest flash.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Given that Zork was originally run on the PDP-10 back in the late 70's chances are it already ran on a paper driven console..WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT.
I think it was actually called Star Trek at the time, but at some point, people started calling it "Space War".
We had eliza, and dungeon, too, and a chat program called "connect".
Once the connect fans had a party in the basement of one of the dorms, because they had really nice computer equipment. VT50s.
They all sat at their terminals and "chat"ted with each other. While in the same room.
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
Instead of the Screen for the input and output they turned it to a piece of paper - which takes longer so it's not entirely practical.
Holy christ... you can tell how far Slashdot has fallen, as far as "News for Nerds" goes, when people are criticizing the *practicality* of something *truly* nerdy.
Some of us actually grew up playing Adventure (still playable online today -- wow!) on something that looks suspiciously similar to that! In my case, a LA36 DECWriter II, which apparently came standard with hippie dress, porn mustache and butterfly collar. I think I still have the old 300 baud acoustic coupler modem lying around somewhere.
Building Better Software
I forget what's inside the egg, but if you are carrying it when you meet the thief, he will steal it. Then later in the game, when you find the thief's lair, you will find the egg opened.
I forget what's inside the egg, but if you are carrying it when you meet the thief, he will steal it. Then later in the game, when you find the thief's lair, you will find the egg opened.
If I remember correct it was like a wind-up mechanical bird. You could either leave the egg laying around, or let it get stolen from your inventory. Either way it was always a pain to remember how long you had to wait before you could kill the thief and the egg would be open.
Aaron
"Curiouser and Curiouser...." -Alice
Yeah, but...can it display Kindle books?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
In the early 80s, my "80-Micro" magazines used to have ads for a gadget that turned an IBM Selectric typewriter into a computer printer. You fit the device over the keyboard of your typewriter and it had a set of solenoids and plungers that, when signalled, pressed the appropriate keys, causing the typewriter to 'type.' I remember watching these beasties at trade shows - It was almost creepy.
Back in the day almost every office had an IBM Selectric, so this provided a means of getting a "letter quality" printer into an office during a time when a letter quality printer could cost $1500 or more ($3000+ in today's dollars).
With a little bit of accessorizing, this would make a cool steampunk gadget.
http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Waste is the highest virtue one can achieve in an advanced capitalist society. The fact that this guy bought paper from Canada and wasted vast quantities playing Zork put an extra spin in the global economy, and that extra spin lifted capitalism to yet greater heights. If you put an end to all the waste, mass panic would ensue and the global economy would go haywire. Waste is the fuel of contradiction, and contradiction activates the economy, and an active economy creates more waste.