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That game had a profound effect on me as something like a then ten year old, I remember my hands shaking trying to get the coin in through the sheer excitement of it all. Sound was legendary and it also had probably the first example I ever saw of particle effects with the explosions. I've tried in the past to buy an old one on ebay and I've even got this idea about writing a C# clone in Blazor at the moment (that won't happen). I did one in ARM32 years ago.
When I take my kids to the same seaside arcade where I had these young moments, it's just full of dull machines that spit tickets out which you can exchange for plastic tat. It was dark, loud and just awesome in the 80s. The music was better too.
Regards,
Rob Philpott.
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I was about 16 or so I guess when I first dropped a coin in.
When all your people are abducted and everything goes mutant, it gets real crazy. 
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After looking high and low for a true type engine I could adapt to GFX I finally found some public domain source I was able to hack to get it all working in low memory environments, meaning using callbacks instead of rendering to bmps and streaming off the font file directly instead of loading it into memory and normalizing it.
I've got it all working in the library. Right now all I'm doing is creating some tools so you can embed them, and doing some long standing but unrelated adds I've been meaning to get around to but I want to ship with this next update.
This means Truetype on IoT, even on the Arduino framework. In theory, it might work on some really minimalistic gadgets with like 16kB of RAM though I haven't tested it, and you'd probably have to use an SD card to hold the font files which would make rendering slow.
I've seen some truetype on IoT, mainly with LVGL** on select platforms and a one off for the ESP32 using freetype but nothing easy, and nothing that will work on Arduino.
**LVGL is awesome, but also really difficult to get building on some platforms, and it uses freetype which comes with serious limitations in terms of what it can target so it's not widely accessible on IoT. It doesn't work with the Arduino framework either, at least not the Truetype bits.
I'm super proud of this GFX library. It really is turning into quite a contender for mid-rage to fat IoT devices like the ESP32.
I'm considering providing anti-aliasing in general, not just for truetype rendering but it's so bloody slow! I wish there was a fast, general case way to do it without alpha-blending.
Still even without it, between JPG, truetype, and the soon to be created UIX user interface layer I'll be building on top of it, it will be a monster of an IoT library. You'll be able to create really professional user interfaces with it for your smart gadgets, and even make things like e-readers - which is something I intend to create here over the next month or two - it's quite involved.
Anyway, the whole point is YAY. This thing is the best thing I've created all year, and one of the best things I've created over the past 5. I'm thrilled, especially since I'm filling a niche that hasn't been adequately filled in the IoT space.
Real programmers use butterflies
modified 13-Jul-21 6:33am.
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Cash is king - if you are looking to avoid detection. 
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OriginalGriff wrote: It would seem that keeping money in cryptocurrencies isn't as "safe and secure" as you might think, as well as being subject to wild fluctuations for no good reason. I'd expect it to drop further on this news as naughty people try to get rid of it. 
Hahaha, sound like someone is jealous!
The most used currency for criminals is the US dollar. We should ban that stuff in Europe.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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That would only mean they would move over to another currency, probably the €. You want to ban that as well?
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If you use the argument that it must be banned because criminals use it, then yes.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: The most used currency for criminals is the US dollar. We should ban that stuff in Europe.
This is one of those weird thing that seems to obsess you. I'd bet if it were Indian Rupees you'd not have posted that.
Aside from what is (apparently) a personal pique of yours, you really need to consider beyond the obvious: a purpose of cryptocurrency is the anonymity it brings. Not true with hard currency. Although paying "in cash" is hidden in any currency, that's a tough play once the sums are substantial and/or they cannot be handed off physically. There's a trail - which is why money laundering exists - but unless moved around in large sacks, the trail will keep reemerging. For some reason you prefer to err on the side of disputing the reality: the money for online (at the least) extortion is preferentially a crypt-currency.
And redirection, i.e. to the US$ or any other real money, doesn't really make the problem brought up go away. The "yeah, but what about . . . " bullshit is part of the current culture to distract from rather than address problems. Works best in social media and at political rallies.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Eddy hates on America every chance he gets.
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: I'd bet if it were Indian Rupees you'd not have posted that.
I would; and funny that everyone jumps on me for calling out the dollar while jumping on BC.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: a purpose of cryptocurrency is the anonymity it brings
Ehr.. no. BC isn't anonymous. In fact, every transaction is recorded in a chain.
The argument that BC is dangerous "because" criminals use it, is garbage. As if we didn't have access to currencies before it's invention.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Sometimes your just plain silly.Eddy Vluggen wrote: Ehr.. no. BC isn't anonymous. In fact, every transaction is recorded in a chain.
And that, of course, includes there name and other identifiable information! Somehow I missed that in all the descriptions.Eddy Vluggen wrote: The argument that BC is dangerous "because" criminals use it, is garbage. As if we didn't have access to currencies before it's invention.
More of that silly stuff ! It's like saying a nerve gas, such as Sarin or Tabun is "OK" because poisonous things existed before they did. Yes. Of course.
As for why BC and its ilk are dangerous? It's because they have no intrinsic value whatsover - not even the so called "good faith of (pick a gov't)". They are empty worthless ephemera with no value other than the speculation that someone else may want to buy it from you and speculate some more. That is dangerous. Catastrophic swings in value (as we already see). Who or what stands behind their value?
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: Sometimes your just plain silly.
Did you mean "you're"?
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: And that, of course, includes there name and other identifiable information! Somehow I missed that in all the descriptions.
The things you buy, that pattern, is the information.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: More of that silly stuff ! It's like saying a nerve gas, such as Sarin or Tabun is "OK" because poisonous things existed before they did. Yes. Of course.
Let me state it different then; I don't take BitCoin, only dollars.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: As for why BC and its ilk are dangerous? It's because they have no intrinsic value whatsover
More intrinsic value than a Euro has, since it is artificially limited. Meaning, our government can't print BitCoins if they need them.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: not even the so called "good faith of (pick a gov't)"
Yeah, place you faith there.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: Who or what stands behind their value?
I don't own BC, a genuine silverbug. And all those idiot arguments about BC go for silver as well. No one stands behind it - you make it sound like that is a problem, but that's an advantage. No Draghi, no problem.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Quote: The Grauniad says
Grauniad? What's that? 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Urban Dictionary: grauniad[^]
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I stand enlightened - thanks!
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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That's a hilarious story.
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Thanks!
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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It's safe and secure unless your private key is hacked or you disclose it to someone who, for example, is threatening to break your legs.
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Greg Utas wrote: It's safe and secure unless your private key is hacked or you disclose it to someone
OK, this is probably where I show my very limited knowledge about cryptocurrencies, but isn't it also completely traceable? Which must be a bit of a downside if you are trying to bypass law enforcement.
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It's traceable because the entire ledger of transactions (with public keys) is available. So the way it's traced is by identifying the owner of one public key, threatening to nail their head to the floor so that they disclose who they dealt with, which reveals the owners of those public keys, and so on.
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It is, and thus, not anonymous.
And it's not like criminals didn't have access to currency before the invention of BC.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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True, but it seems to have really helped their business model. They and early miners and investors seem to be the biggest beneficiaries of the technology. Common folk have no need for this. The world would have been better off without it.
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