It works great for Rust binaries, which can get quite large. I had to rewrite some Python utilities (software updater, Wi-Fi network config, etc.) for a very constrained embedded system (64MB RAM) that couldn’t handle Python. So I built them all in a single multi-call binary. I believe `clap` has built-in support for it.

Also, Busybox has a lot of stuff built in that you’d never think of. It has a little vi built in. It has the full suite of ‘runit’ process supervisor utilities. And plenty more. It has a Kconfig system (like the kernel) where you can tune exactly which utilities you need and what features you need. Don’t need full output in ps? Turn it off. Don’t need tab completion? Pretty sure you can turn that off too. Always typing ‘dc’ instead of ‘cd’? Just don’t include dc.

I figured out that the test cases allocated a disproportionate amount of X-byte blocks. I was able to get to the top by hardcoding a specific freelist just for X-byte blocks.

Learned a lesson about easily it is to game a benchmark :)

The meltdowns stopped, but I still have issues spiralling into thoughts of failure and being a horrible person when I feel like I’ve disappointed family or friends.

Guanfacine has helped though. Tried a bunch of medications and this is the only one that seems to have made an impact.

Also explains why there is no difference between Ctrl-x and Ctrl-Shift-x.

https://youtu.be/smStEPSRKBs?si=k_0u3NKCxCqZBc6w

Battlezone and later 3D games used different circuitry that generated vectors with analog circuitry and used a “math box” coprocessor based on Am2901 bit slice ALUs to help with the 3D math.

http://archive.pbrick.info/The%20MIT%20Programmable%20Brick%...

https://web.archive.org/web/20011212030110/http://fredm.www....

Growing up in New England at the time, I was very lucky that they ran a pilot project at my elementary school. We programmed our "sketches" (though we didn't use this term) in LogoWriter on Mac LC IIs and flashed them using a weird dongle that connected to the brick via RJ11 cable.

I owe a lot to my teachers and Fred Martin's group. I don't think I'd be a developer today without that experience.

I don’t think it always did the best job and saw a bunch of register spills I thought were unnecessary, but I couldn’t justify the time and effort to do it in assembly…

You could also just mess with the horizontal/vertical position knobs and use it as a very expensive Etch-a-Sketch.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Penn_Sta...

I do miss the split flap displays at the Boston and Providence Amtrak stations though…

Love this article!

Signed, someone who has an obsession with segmented displays

Oh my goodness, I took the cover off and what I saw was jaw-dropping. Thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of the most densely packed metal levers and cams and gears one could ever imagine. Nearly all of which would have needed cleaning and lubrication. Getting this thing fully working could have taken a year or more, especially with no repair manuals, and all available information in German.

The respect I have for the designers of these machines, and the servicepeople who repaired them, is immeasurable.

They are also electrical death traps. Lots of exposed switch contacts carrying mains voltage.

Also it's a bit startling to see floating-point code used so freely. Shows how rapidly the capabilities of MCUs have developed. 15 years ago, doing floating point on a microcontroller would be unspeakable /s

Wish I had a schematic but I kinda just wired it freehand.

Most all machines from the 80s and 90s (Williams/Bally/Gottlieb) store their high scores and adjustments in an SRAM like a 5101 with a battery backup. They are stored in binary-coded decimal and protected by a checksum.

If you could tap into the bus (possibly while the CPU is halted or by removing it) you could modify its contents.

A common aftermarket mod is to remove the backup battery (they like to corrode) and replace the CMOS RAM with a nonvolatile FeRAM. In that case, just pop it into a programmer like a TL866 and program a new image with your desired high scores.

I’ve considered doing this… I wish my 1.2 billion on my Getaway hadn’t been wiped out…