Subject: Re: [stella] watching the processor run From: "Ronald A. Laski, Jr." <rlaski@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Thu, 28 May 1998 04:52:34 -0500 |
At 12:39 AM 5/28/98 -0500, you wrote: >This is going to sound insane, but you can get an amazing and bizarre >look into what the VCS is doing by physically disassembling it and >pressing your hand against the underside of the processor board while a >game is running. What the processor is doing shows up on the TV as >various interference patterns. The best results I've had so far have >come from pressing one thumb against a couple of the pins leading to >the cartridge slot and the other against some of the resistors about >halfway down the side. (This is on a six-switch NTSC Sears dated July >28, 1980; your results may vary.) > >What's going on, I think, is that your body acts as a large resistor, >letting you connect things (like the address bus and the video) >together in such a way that analog things like the color phase are >tweaked enough to be visible but digital signals are basically >unaffected. I'm going to have to go to Radio Shack tomorrow and >get some big resistors so I can examine this more systematically. > >Tangentially, if I ever had to pick a program to enter in a Core Wars >competition, the Parker Bros Frogger cartridge would be at the top of >my list. That game can take some amazing abuse (bus lines shorted >together, etc.) and still keep drawing a valid playfield in spite of >it all. > >eric > >-- >Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/ >Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html > > uh, huh.. and Robin Williams once did an 'Televangelistic' comedy routine, a portion of which is... "and I want you to grab the back of the TV set and feel the power of Comedy... Yeah, as it shocks your ass across the room, SOMEBODY will have a laugh!" :) Ron -- Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/ Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html
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