MIT Tetris Hack: Source Code Released

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MIT Tetris Hack: Source Code Released

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday May 1, 2012 @08:54AM from the make-your-town-hall-much-more-entertaining dept.

An anonymous reader writes "MIT's The Tech published an article with technical details behind the Tetris hack they did on the Green Building earlier this year. The article includes photographs of the LED modules, as well as a link to some of the source code used in the hack. The hackers have released some of the source code on GitHub, and are looking for people to contribute code that could run on the system."

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Harware is more interesting by Ksevio · 2012-05-01 09:00 · Score: 3, Interesting

Making a game of Tetris is pretty simple. The cool part of this project is the wireless controlled LED bars they built and the design of those. I didn't see any specs for those, but that would be something interesting to see.
What? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 09:03 · Score: 0

'Earlier this year'? It was only 11 days ago...
Oh my god, some dudes released source code! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 09:04 · Score: 1

Please post on it on slashdot PLEAAASE
Just for the record guys, not /every/ piece of open source software deserves a story on slashdot, and this one in particular is one that doesn't serve many people a purpose. Hacks like these get made every week, and these guys at MIT didn't make anything particularly interesting.
1. Re:Oh my god, some dudes released source code! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 10:03 · Score: 0
  
  Not just that, they released "Some of the source code". It's not even everything....
  I agree with the people who point out that the hardware is the more interesting part of this hack. Tetris clones aren't particularly hard to write.
2. Re:Oh my god, some dudes released source code! by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 15:44 · Score: 0
  
  The point is that people could make stuff that would be compatible with the actual display. The tetris clone just seems like example code.
3. Re:Oh my god, some dudes released source code! by flyneye · 2012-05-01 23:47 · Score: 1
  
  You mean they released the open source code from "project blinkenlights"? And of course they credited the CCC for writing it and should post their changes to it too. I'm sure they will. Just any second now. Cause that's how open source works, attribution and sharing code. Waiting...
  
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YAWN... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 09:12 · Score: 0

the original post wasn't interesting. the obligatory follow up isn't interesting either.
no one cares.
Re:Java and Tetris by CharlyFoxtrot · 2012-05-01 09:12 · Score: 1

Yeah and The Tetris Company is very litigious.

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Not the first by Anaerin · 2012-05-01 09:13 · Score: 4, Informative

Blinkenlights did it first, and at higher resolution, and once they'd finished doing it in black and white, they went to Paris and did it again, in colour. Both systems had Tetris that was playable by phone, and would also display messages sent via SMS to the display. Oh, and both those projects were also open-source. The only interesting part of this is the wireless connectivity in the MIT system.
1. Re:Not the first by Bobfrankly1 · 2012-05-01 10:03 · Score: 1
  
  It would appear that the MIT system was stealth installed, and arrangements were made afterwards to keep the system there. From the readings on the Blinkenlights site and the wikipedia entry, Blinkenlights had prior arrangements with the building management, although both teams are admittedly short on details in this respect. If I'm reading things right, that's a major difference and an interesting one at that.
2. Re:Not the first by fondacio · 2012-05-01 10:51 · Score: 1
  
  I doesn't seem that anyone was claiming that MIT were the first, but as long as we're looking at prior art: the first Tetris-on-a-builiding was done by electrical engineering students in Delft, the Netherlands, all the way back in 1995, as you can see on this archived webpage. Futhermore, students at Brown University did it in 2000 (BBC article here). Both prior projects, but not Blinkenlights, are mentioned in an article about the MIT project here. It seems to me that each of these projects has something the others didn't, so no need to be competive about it - it's all in good fun.
3. Re:Not the first by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 11:29 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but they were foreigners and the MIT guys are Americans. Go America!
4. Re:Not the first by Alien+Being · 2012-05-01 12:38 · Score: 1
  
  MIT guys are Americans? 50% maybe. And many of them aren't guys.
5. Re:Not the first by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-02 02:41 · Score: 0
  
  Also in 2007, the local students did this in Tampere, Finland on the wall of a local student housing building.
  http://www.ghacks.net/2007/12/09/mikontalo-lights-project/
I'd love to help, but.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 09:14 · Score: 0

Sadly I don't quite meet the system requirements. Does anyone know where I can get a "Green Building", preferably a USB-powered one?
1. Re:I'd love to help, but.... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-02 01:05 · Score: 0
  
  Sadly I don't quite meet the system requirements. Does anyone know where I can get a "Green Building", preferably a USB-powered one?
  As well as a Green Building, you will also need lock picks (and some good lock pickers) to get into all the rooms, or perhaps the master keys that were reverse engineered in my day (1970's) still work. Pre-planning some social engineering to throw anyone off the track might be a good idea, in case you are caught installing things late at night. Some of the rooms might be alarmed, so you also have to figure out how to bypass them.
  My point is that pulling off this hack took more than electronics & computer technology. There is an element of project management as well.
Re:LOL scrubs by matrim99 · 2012-05-01 09:40 · Score: 3, Funny

Seriously. Machine language input by punch cards or GTFO.

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Re:LOL scrubs by Samantha+Wright · 2012-05-01 09:41 · Score: 1

It's a different meaning of the word.

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Re:LOL scrubs by Samantha+Wright · 2012-05-01 10:17 · Score: 1

Okay, that's a relief. I thought as much. So how do you feel about Clojure?

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Hack hack hack? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 10:29 · Score: 1

The article is rubbish, or at least its definition of "hack" is. What did they hack? The building? The led? The led drivers? The air? The power outlet? The aluminium bars? The occupants? The genator?
Note even "Windows" is not the correct answer IMHO.
1. Re:Hack hack hack? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 10:40 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  What did they hack? They hacked your very perception of what is possible, man.
2. Re:Hack hack hack? by arth1 · 2012-05-01 11:52 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The article is rubbish, or at least its definition of "hack" is.
  That's ignorance speaking. A "hack" is a MIT prank or tomfoolery, a tradition going back to the late 1800s.
3. Re:Hack hack hack? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 15:31 · Score: 0
  
  Since the tetris building has been done to death, it's not only not a hack but it's trite. My perception of what is possible (man) extends a lot further than this.
Re:LOL scrubs by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 10:39 · Score: 0

If it works, who cares what it was written in?
Just sayin'
Another open source falling block game by tepples · 2012-05-01 10:57 · Score: 1

I wonder why Quadrapassel hasn't already been taken out of GNOME Games.
Any MIT residents out there? White Light question by ediron2 · 2012-05-01 11:15 · Score: 2

Every image or video I've seen on this hack has 2 rooms with lights on: White lights, right edge just below the midpoint, separated horizontally by 1 and vertically by 2.
Other rooms occasionally are illuminated, but **always** these two are on. I know this is esoteric, but what's up with that? Anything special about those rooms/windows?
Re:LOL scrubs by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 11:32 · Score: 0

People who are actual hackers and not posers?
"The âholy grailâ(TM) of hacks" ?? by cachimaster · 2012-05-01 11:47 · Score: 1

Haha I think the marketing department at MIT is out of control.
You are great guys, we already know. Take it easy with the press-release.
Where is the rest of the source code? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 13:32 · Score: 0

The source code posted only contains the basic display and game play code. Where is the interesting code to control the wireless and display?
Hacking? Really? by Narmacil · 2012-05-01 14:33 · Score: 1

When are people going to realize that hacking is now a meaningless buzzword applied to anything that has thought put into it? I feel like this was a neat side project for a few electrical/software engineers, nothing was co-opted or done without permission, no hardware was repurposed, nothing was "hacked". They just got alot of commercial off the shelf stuff, put it together with a little know-how and did what engineers do every day. I know this was posted here because it's MIT, and everyone loves it to death when they do anything remotely tech related, but lighting up buildings with LED's has been going on forever, there's nothing particularly novel here other than their specific implementation, no advances in tech have been made.
Maybe I'm jaded...
1. Re:Hacking? Really? by _Shad0w_ · 2012-05-01 16:42 · Score: 1
  
  Meh, most MIT side projects are hardly ground breaking, it doesn't stop them being interesting. The LED dance floor one group did was my favourite.
  (Also, I quibble about the requirement "without permission". You can hack something with or without permission.)
  
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Re:Great job by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-01 23:43 · Score: 0

I think that since it was an OPEN SOURCE CODE from the CHAOS COMPUTER CLUBs BLINKENLIGHTS PROJECT, that SOMEONE should give the majority of credit to THEM! http://blinkenlights.net/
I will admit that the social manipulation and putting together custom hardware could be considered the hack by MIT, but let's give props where props are found.
Re:LOL scrubs by Hillgiant · 2012-05-02 01:00 · Score: 2

If you are not manually flipping the switches yourself, you just aren't trying.

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Re:Any MIT residents out there? White Light questi by Coren22 · 2012-05-07 09:47 · Score: 1

They are in use. The white lights are the room lights.

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