Way back in the 1980s, the days of the exciting home computer and game console boom, Micom Soft introduced their XE‑1 line of game controller peripherals. From the humble XE‑1B two-button joystick for Japanese home computers, to the XE‑1ST2 switchable 4-way/8-way joystick with support for FM Towns and Sega consoles, to the fully programmable XE‑1SFC Super […]
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
MSVC C++ ABI Member Function Pointers
This is a detailed discussion of MSVC C++ ABI pointers to member functions, including some of the trade-offs they make. The format of pointers to member functions in C++ is implementation-defined, and a lot of incomplete and misleading information about this topic can be found around the web. There’s a popular article at Code Project […]
The Q Factor
If you spent much time in video game arcades ’90s, you’re sure to have seen the QSound logo proudly displayed during the attract loop of games running on Capcom’s CPS-2 and ZN-1/ZN-1 hardware platforms, and heard the distinctive jingle. But What exactly is QSound? What does it actually do? Capcom was definitely keen to promote […]
TPG FTTB Settings
In case anyone else wants to configure third-party equipment for a TPG fibre-to-the-building service, here are the details. Below the fold are screenshots of the settings entered in the web-based configuration UI of an AVM FRITZ!Box. Note that the SIP password is not the same as your account password, and you’ll need to obtain this […]
TPG: Just Don’t
Due to persistent issues with line quality, I switched an Internet connection from Internode ADSL2+ to TPG fibre to the building (FTTB). Although the connection quality is better, just about everything else about TPG is worse. I strongly recommend avoiding TPG. Problems include: Error-prone signup process Supplied modem/router is heavily compromised Phone service is tied […]
Going Old-School
For lulz, I decided to rewrite MAME’s Intel 4004 CPU core and add support for most 4040 features. The new CPU core operates at the bus cycle level, and exposes most useful signals. It also uses lots of address spaces for all the different kinds of memory and I/O it supports (thanks OG). Some CPU […]
Attacking the Weak
ShouTime dumped the incredibly rare game Omega (Nihon System). It’s a ball-and-paddle game running on similar hardware to Sega’s Gigas. These games use an NEC MC-8123 CPU module containing a Z80 core, decryption circuitry, and an 8 KiB encryption key in battery-backed RAM. When fetching a byte from ROM or RAM, the CPU chooses a byte […]
My PAL with the LASERs
Back in the distant past, MAME started cataloguing programmable logic devices (PLDs) in addition to ROMs. This was met with considerable hostility from certain segments of the community, as it was seen as forcing them to obtain files they saw as unnecessary for emulation in order to run their precious games. However PLDs are programmable […]
Yet another reason to hate Google’s tentacles
It’s not secret I don’t like the way the web is succumbing to JavaScript bloat and sucking in scripts from third-party sites. But I now have another reason to hate it. A few sites are blocked from China, including most Google properties such as Google search, Google APIs and YouTube (and also Tagged, incidentally). If […]
Spirit
More than four months later, Nic Watt has posted an fitting follow-up to the massively underwhelming Spirit Hunters Development Diary 1: the equally underwhelming Spirit Hunters Development Diary 2. Let me give you a tip Nic: being a cheap bastard and not paying artists and level designers doesn’t mean you’ve developed an “augmented reality” application. In true […]