If only that were true... I do enough of that stuff to get to know every wife in the neighborhood "that way".
Not that I wanted to turn this into a bitchfest (I was just trying to be... 'funny'...), but I also didn't want to be accused of being lazy and unhelpful.
Also, PASCAL is also a learning-only language... I think C or C++ in high school is a relatively recent development. Most of the guys I went to college with had the same story as me... first BASIC (which most of us had already played with on our Atari 400s or whatever), then PASCAL (which we all hated).
Never messed with Python, but I agree that it would probably be better to throw students right in the deep end and get them coding in C. The biggest reason being to teach them structure. BASIC breeds spaghetti coders.
The flyback on your average monitor puts out about 14KV. Most chassis' will dissipate that pretty quickly when the monitor is powered down, but caution is still advisable.
Getting bit by the flyback won't kill you (unless you have a pacemaker or something), but it will knock you on your ass...
As far as rewiring a CRT (meaning the pix tube itself), no, you shouldn't ever have to do it. Why would you? The only wire that even "goes" to the CRT is the anode coming off the flyback. You shouldn't ever, ever cut that, let alone splice it and wrap it in a little electrical tape.
Everything else is right on the chassis or neckboard. There are a couple of wires that run to the CRT socket on the neckboard, but those shouldn't ever need to be cut either... in the event of swapping out a neckboard (no, don't do that either) or a CRT socket (maybe), those wires should be desoldered right at the socket.
I work with monitors, CRTs, etc., frequently (I fix arcade games). There's a lot of misinformation here. Misinformation can be dangerous... like the people who say "to discharge a CRT, ground it to your wall socket!" Wrong wrong wrong. That won't do anything. You need to discharge to a RELATIVE ground; I.E. - the chassis' ground.
A CRT is basically a bigass glass capacitor.
OK. Rant over. Need coffee. I'll read this later to see if it's even coherent.
But they don't use PCs in arcade games; they're dedicated PCBs which must be engineered and manufactured. Then there are the programming costs, the expense of the EEPROMs and other silicon, the rest of the hardware engineering, and so forth. Don't forget advertising, shipping, etc. You haven't taken any of that into consideration.
And, dude... custom fiberglass work for a hundred bucks? Didn't know Kathy Lee's sweatshops did anything but rayon slacks.
Been to a Betson distributor lately? I have. I collect classic arcade games, and go there for parts occasionally. I see their price tags, and have an idea what these things cost. Your typical 25" upright coin op costs around $5000 new. The upright Star Wars Trilogy was about $9000 new. That's a fact. A huge simulator is going to be much more than that.
Besides, where's the profit on your $5000 dream machine?
Sorry. I'm not bashing you, but your logic is faulty, and I know what I'm talking about.;^)
That's where you're wrong. Those huge mammoth simulators cost tens of thousands of dollars... no arcade owner can possibly expect to buy one and turn a profit... even at $1 a play... and, honestly, how many times are you going to put a dollar in the same game? So, those games are usually leased.
You'll notice that arcades are all turning to redemption games, because that's the only place right now where they can make any profit.
I'm hoping to see the return of the "social" aspect of arcades. Like, for instance, back when fighting games really hit... SF2, MK, VF... you'd go to the arcade and challenge total strangers, there'd be a line of quarters across the retainer bar for the monitor glass... those were the days.
The problem is, as arcade games all went 3D, home consoles could then offer reasonable facsimiles of their arcade counter parts. Lose a polygon here, jagged edge there, and the game would still be fluid and recognizable on your $99 PlayStation. What was the point of asking mom to drive you to the mall or (gasp) riding your bike to the pizza joint a few blocks away? You could just sit at home and play the game all you wanted, no waiting, no quarters, until you were sick of it.
That was nowhere near the case back in the early 80's... even the early 90's. You had no choice but to go to the arcade if you wanted the real deal. Hell, even the NES couldn't push a good port of Galaga. Play the highly-vaunted ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong, and then fire it up in MAME. No comparison.
OK, I'm losing track of whatever the hell I was talking about... I guess I made my point... jumping off my soapbox now.
I was actually fortunate enough to find a 486/66 on the side of the road... took it home, cleaned it up, and installed only DOS on it. No Windows.
I'm in heaven. I've been playing through my old Sierra adventures (and astonishing myself at remembering the solutions to every puzzle after 12 years), and just started a game of Syndicate. Syndicate is the second best game EVER, next to the original X-Com, which I'm also playing. Now if I could just find an extra hour or two in the day.....
Happy gaming all,
Bob
Know what's sad? I'm such a geek that I always read it as "fuck Gateway"... the GW Bush thing never crossed my mind.
Oh well, maybe that's just because I like the guy. (ducking)
Slashdot Mirror
The ";" suppressed the carriage return. :^)
If only that were true... I do enough of that stuff to get to know every wife in the neighborhood "that way".
... 'funny'...), but I also didn't want to be accused of being lazy and unhelpful.
Not that I wanted to turn this into a bitchfest (I was just trying to be
Cheers.
But can they use stem cells to make my wife put out again?
Mundus vult decipi decipiatur ergo.
-Xaviera Hollander
Like your sense of self-worth being dependent upon sexually arousing the opposite sex.
Spoken like one who never could.
ALL YOUR BASIC ARE BELONG TO US!!!
Also, PASCAL is also a learning-only language... I think C or C++ in high school is a relatively recent development. Most of the guys I went to college with had the same story as me... first BASIC (which most of us had already played with on our Atari 400s or whatever), then PASCAL (which we all hated).
Never messed with Python, but I agree that it would probably be better to throw students right in the deep end and get them coding in C. The biggest reason being to teach them structure. BASIC breeds spaghetti coders.
The flyback on your average monitor puts out about 14KV. Most chassis' will dissipate that pretty quickly when the monitor is powered down, but caution is still advisable. Getting bit by the flyback won't kill you (unless you have a pacemaker or something), but it will knock you on your ass... As far as rewiring a CRT (meaning the pix tube itself), no, you shouldn't ever have to do it. Why would you? The only wire that even "goes" to the CRT is the anode coming off the flyback. You shouldn't ever, ever cut that, let alone splice it and wrap it in a little electrical tape. Everything else is right on the chassis or neckboard. There are a couple of wires that run to the CRT socket on the neckboard, but those shouldn't ever need to be cut either... in the event of swapping out a neckboard (no, don't do that either) or a CRT socket (maybe), those wires should be desoldered right at the socket. I work with monitors, CRTs, etc., frequently (I fix arcade games). There's a lot of misinformation here. Misinformation can be dangerous... like the people who say "to discharge a CRT, ground it to your wall socket!" Wrong wrong wrong. That won't do anything. You need to discharge to a RELATIVE ground; I.E. - the chassis' ground. A CRT is basically a bigass glass capacitor. OK. Rant over. Need coffee. I'll read this later to see if it's even coherent.
But they don't use PCs in arcade games; they're dedicated PCBs which must be engineered and manufactured. Then there are the programming costs, the expense of the EEPROMs and other silicon, the rest of the hardware engineering, and so forth. Don't forget advertising, shipping, etc. You haven't taken any of that into consideration.
;^)
And, dude... custom fiberglass work for a hundred bucks? Didn't know Kathy Lee's sweatshops did anything but rayon slacks.
Been to a Betson distributor lately? I have. I collect classic arcade games, and go there for parts occasionally. I see their price tags, and have an idea what these things cost. Your typical 25" upright coin op costs around $5000 new. The upright Star Wars Trilogy was about $9000 new. That's a fact. A huge simulator is going to be much more than that.
Besides, where's the profit on your $5000 dream machine?
Sorry. I'm not bashing you, but your logic is faulty, and I know what I'm talking about.
That's where you're wrong. Those huge mammoth simulators cost tens of thousands of dollars... no arcade owner can possibly expect to buy one and turn a profit... even at $1 a play... and, honestly, how many times are you going to put a dollar in the same game? So, those games are usually leased.
You'll notice that arcades are all turning to redemption games, because that's the only place right now where they can make any profit.
I'm hoping to see the return of the "social" aspect of arcades. Like, for instance, back when fighting games really hit... SF2, MK, VF... you'd go to the arcade and challenge total strangers, there'd be a line of quarters across the retainer bar for the monitor glass... those were the days.
The problem is, as arcade games all went 3D, home consoles could then offer reasonable facsimiles of their arcade counter parts. Lose a polygon here, jagged edge there, and the game would still be fluid and recognizable on your $99 PlayStation. What was the point of asking mom to drive you to the mall or (gasp) riding your bike to the pizza joint a few blocks away? You could just sit at home and play the game all you wanted, no waiting, no quarters, until you were sick of it.
That was nowhere near the case back in the early 80's... even the early 90's. You had no choice but to go to the arcade if you wanted the real deal. Hell, even the NES couldn't push a good port of Galaga. Play the highly-vaunted ColecoVision version of Donkey Kong, and then fire it up in MAME. No comparison.
OK, I'm losing track of whatever the hell I was talking about... I guess I made my point... jumping off my soapbox now.
I was actually fortunate enough to find a 486/66 on the side of the road... took it home, cleaned it up, and installed only DOS on it. No Windows.
I'm in heaven. I've been playing through my old Sierra adventures (and astonishing myself at remembering the solutions to every puzzle after 12 years), and just started a game of Syndicate. Syndicate is the second best game EVER, next to the original X-Com, which I'm also playing. Now if I could just find an extra hour or two in the day.....
Happy gaming all, Bob
Know what's sad? I'm such a geek that I always read it as "fuck Gateway"... the GW Bush thing never crossed my mind. Oh well, maybe that's just because I like the guy. (ducking)