_/▔\_/▔\_/﹀\_︿╱\/﹀⁸⠅҈͚͛͘҉ͨ͟͝҉̦̾ͬ҉͚́ͅ҉͟͝͠҉͙͚͝҈̢̦͠҉̹͂ͅ҈͉͊͆҉̲̈́ͅ҉͚͛͟҉͢͟͡҈͖͙͗҈͓͟͡҉͍͉͛ͣ҈͓͐̾҉ͪ͟͞҉͉͋ͭ҈͖͗ͯ҈͙ͭ͘҈͎͐҈͉͊͋҉͇͉͊҈̧̤̿҉̦̈́͑҉̀̈͌҉͍͋͌҉̵̼̽҉̻̻̽҉͚̻̽҉͚͝͠҈̧̢͂҈͓͑͒͑҉
#embedded systems blah blah blah, #ARM #Linux #IoT and #Qt hacking. Farmer by day. Currently posting stuff I saved from my time in the #pinball business. Check your pin mux.
| Occupation | electron logistics |
| Sweet Home | [ ✶✶✶✶ ] |
| Dogs | 🐶🐶 |
| Cable Address | WILCOIN CHICAGO |
@apzpins We called it "duty cycling" in the WPC operating system and it was pretty sophisticated. It used zero cross detection to deliver smooth power at different levels. It was scriptable, you could make it run at different powers with millisecond precision. And it ran on flash lamps too! When GI was changed to triac drive in WPC-95, we could dim the GI (I used that like crazy in TOTAN)
And yes, it kept coils from turning into flamethrowers.
@apzpins It was R&D, but there was a growing concern about how to compete with Golden Tee Golf. Their earnings kept rising while pins were getting worse.
A pinball IoT network would be good for operators in theory, but paging a tech to fix a game works better on paper than in real life.
Stern was also trying to solve the Golf problem, they put a ton of work into detecting if the glass was off and someone was cheating the game. It never worked. That's why their tournament system was per-game.
@apzpins Pfutz wrote a LOT of complex code in his games. A lot of that comes from battle scars trying to get projects done.
Between games I was handed a huge chunk of code that he wrote, it sent game audits and diags over a modem. I adapted it into a two-way protocol that called the wms.com server on a regular basis.
By the time I had to move on I had a web page on wms.com that could show me the status of a few TOTAN test machines. The attract mode could show the current weather outside.
@apzpins I think this was more about testing the mechanism on the production line. Pfutz's software was VERY strict about never operating this mech when the glass was off - this was a backdoor override.
Williams DID have a QA team for life-testing every mech we made, typically when a mech was finished someone from s/w would write a test driver and it went to this lab that ran 24/7. See 0:18-0:30 in this video. It's the only video I've ever seen. (PS: It was LOUD!)
