Toots for mrowe@bdash.net.nz account

Written by bdash on 2025-01-13 at 02:46

My fun hack this week… running Doom II on the Spike 2 platform used in recent Stern pinball machines.

The main processor is an ARM Cortex A9 running an ancient version of Linux. Switches, including the flipper buttons, are managed by multiple microcontroller boards in the cabinet talking over a proprietary serial "node bus”.

Beyond cross-compiler hell, most of the work was writing a driver that speaks the node bus protocol and synthesizes virtual keyboard events.

https://social.bdash.net.nz/@mrowe/113818729279618781

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Written by bdash on 2025-01-13 at 02:39

Pinball got you down? Why not play 1994’s hit video game DOOM II… on your pinball machine!

https://youtube.com/shorts/Nf8uIzg_aUA?si=b0GznwmyYZ5Hgosv

[#]pinball #sternpinball

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Written by bdash on 2025-01-03 at 17:15

Happy new Stern Pinball reveal day to all who celebrate!

Dungeons and Dragons: Tyrant's Eye, featuring a gelatinous cube, animatronic dragon, and saved campaign progress. Looks like some interesting opportunities on the software / rules side of things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LszrgZ_zxE

https://sternpinball.com/game/dungeons-dragons/

[#]pinball #dnd

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Written by bdash on 2024-12-02 at 04:24

I've recently been working to understand what triggers certain TCC prompts on macOS. During this investigation I noticed something that many prior analyses of TCC overlook: TCC prompts can be triggered not only by system frameworks, but by the Sandbox kernel extension in response to rules defined by the platform sandbox policy.

My latest blog post documents the sandbox features behind this and provides examples of some of the responsible sandbox policies.

https://bdash.net.nz/posts/tcc-and-the-platform-sandbox-policy/

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Written by bdash on 2024-05-16 at 00:23

The Golden State Pinball Festival starts on Friday in Lodi, CA https://www.goldenstatepinball.org I spent the afternoon loading up three of my games to take to the show! There is a small door charge to get in and play over 300 pinball machines from all eras, with proceeds benefiting the World of Wonders science museum #pinball

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Written by bdash on 2024-05-05 at 03:46

Another classic Stern #pinball machine is in the house! This time it's a 1979 Stern Meteor.

Do you like drop targets? Then this is the game for you!

Three banks of three drop targets, and a six bank of memory drop targets. These targets remember their state for each player between balls. And to top it all off there's a spinner to rip!

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Written by bdash on 2024-05-03 at 01:20

New old #pinball machine day! This time it's a 1981 Stern Lightning. It has a split level playfield, three banks of drop targets, and a three ball multi-ball. The split playfield results in fast, chaotic play. It's a constant challenge to get the ball back under control.

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