Author: James R. Twine
-
So-called Web “Developers”
So, I have been seeing this more and more. I see the term “Web Developer” being applied to anybody that can do basic HTML5 and CSS scripting. Even worse, I see the term being applied to people that do not know enough to understand how the back end works, or cannot even spell LAMP. If…
-
Williams Hardware, Switchers and CMOS
So this keeps coming up a few times a year, almost like people completely forget about how to use Google every now and then. Someone has a Williams 6809 hardware game like Defender, Stargate, Joust, etc. They install a switcher instead of repairing the existing linear supply (which is OK, people have their reasons), and…
-
Watchdogging and Corrupted Centipede (Bad POKEY)
Got to work on a busted Centipede that booted to a white background screen that briefly showed the start of the attract mode (things drawn in green or purple) before crashing, watchdogging and doing it all over again. Test mode would do the same thing as well. Disabling the watchdog (by grounding the WDDIS test…
-
Words to Watch Out For When Buying Arcade Games or Pinball Machines
I have learned through many years of posts, sales, people, auctions, and similar experiences that there are certain words and phrases that you need to watch out for when buying games, boards, etc. Untested The first one, and it is a biggie – UNTESTED. Here is the truth: if dealing with a whole game, and it…
-
Perceived Hostility Between Hearing and Deaf Communities
So this is something that has been picking up recently. It feels like an aggressive cultural surge is forming in the deaf community. The last one I was cognizant of was almost 15-20(?) years ago where there was this large push to try to eliminate initialized signs from ASL because they viewed as being too…
-
Thoughts on Teaching ASL (ASL Instruction Opinions)
[Permalink: https://tinyurl.com/totasl] So, first off, I love the Deaf community and have been a student of the Deaf World for about 25 years now. Now, I know that sounds like the beginning of racist rant that starts with something like “I don’t have a problem with black people, I even have black friends!” but please…
-
Dead Gorf
So I found a dead Gorf on Craigslist. It was an older ad, but was still available when I inquired. Dude I picked it up from had done some pretty impressive restorations on some other games. Anyway – it was dead alright. Shows a blank screen that looked overly blue due to how the monitor…
-
Bringing Joust Back to Life
So it came to pass that I ended up with three cabinets for $100 each. A Great Golf in a Midway cabaret, some Toaplan run-n-gun in a Taito Qix cabinet, and… A Joust(!) in its original cabinet. I agreed to purchase all three sight-unseen. When I get them all home, the golf game worked except…
-
Joust Showing 1 3 5 and a REALLY Effed-Up Screen
[This was extracted from a large article about getting a dead Joust operational. I thought it made sense to put this part in its own post to help anyone else with a similar issue. This post may reference content from an earlier post, so keep that in mind when reading.] So at this point the Joust will…
-
Joust With an Input Problem – 1st Player Always Runs Left
[This was extracted from a large article about getting a dead Joust operational. I thought it made sense to put this part in its own post to help anyone else with a similar issue. It may reference content from the previous two posts here and here.] …So now I have a Joust that boots correctly…