Keep trading 'lemon ice cream' (wink wink) and you'll be rich in no time.

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Quoting: tuubiThe trailer doesn't tell me much. Is it an engineering simulation of some kind or is there an actual game in there? I love TIS-100, but this... I have no idea.

It probably works like TIS-100, where you get a series of distinct 'take this input, return this output' tasks in increasing complexity, and try to work out the most efficient solution. The over-arching goal could be related to a bit of background mystery, as in TIS-100.

The screenshots show the specifications for a NOT gate; I'm curious how they've implemented the more complex structures like the Arithmetic Logic Unit; also how much of the CPU's design is a ready template, and how much of it is up to the player. (I mean, there *has to* be ready templates for the more complex stuff; it's not like you get to create new architectures?!) Too bad I'm broke; or I would've got this.

(Another question is how complex the end product gets: Only a CPU? A complete computer with memory mapped devices?)

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This reminds me of the exercises in this book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/elements-computing-systems [External Link]

It's an amazing book; in the first half you get to construct a 16 bit computer, starting from individual logic gates. Then you write a pretty basic Assembly language for the processor, and write some simple programs in it. Eventually a complete operating system, and an object-oriented higher level language are designed; but I haven't studied through those parts. The book comes with several emulators / simulators to test the resulting hardware; and eventually the software written to run on that hardware.

It looks like this game will be similar. The 'NAND' that they refer to in the trailer is a basic logic gate from which all other truth functions (AND, OR, XOR, etc.) can be defined. I wonder how they've implemented the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit), the memory registers, etc. Also in general I wonder how they've 'gamified' the whole thing. Looks really interesting.....

Here's a talk by one of the authors of the book mentioned:
View video on youtube.com

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Quoting: 14We decided on a fairly beefy (for home use) Gazelle for $1,300 that blew away Apple's offerings when it came to hardware speed & capacity versus price. I mean, the $2,800 MBP had weaker specs than the $1,300 Gazelle.

Yes the hardware & the price for the specs is excellent; my only frustration (apart from the case) is the lack of discrete graphics on the Gazelle.

As to Apple: Especially after they implemented the 'App Store' on the Mac, vendor lock-in became a means of forced obsolescence, and that's one of the things that offends me most with Apple nowadays. Once upon a time, their hardware was known for its longevity -- now software stops updating, and then running, arbitrarily on whatever version of the OS; the OS, in turn, is pickier as to the machine it runs on.

I still have a 2007 Mac Mini, which is perfectly capable of doing what it's supposed to do; but it hasn't been getting any software updates for a very long time now -- and there's no way I'll put it on the web with no security updates. So I'm using it as a thin client (!) connected to a dedicated VM on my main Linux desktop.

The only benefit from my time with Apple was that it introduced me to the unix command line, a package manager (Macports), various GNU and BSD utilities, vim, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these days Apple guts command line access too. And maybe even the ability to run VMs down the line. (Actually that would be pretty good; because all those FreeBSD developers would have to start running their OS on their actual hardware.)

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More on topic, I'm pretty happy with my gazelle pro (9) -- really good internals and screen (no discrete graphics, though; and a bit noisy). The build quality of the case, though, leaves a lot to be desired.

Though I hope they eventually build their own laptops, with custom cases, rather than rebrand Clevos. There's quite a bit of room for improvement, especially with respect to the casing.

Some people at the Apple camp seem to have started jumping ship (I did so 3 years ago); and a lot of those seem to be giving Linux a try, rather than go back to ... you know who. While the software quality over at Apple has been on decline for quite a while now, the hardware quality (at least the build quality of the casing) used to be top notch before the nonsensical decisions about the ports, and the ludicrous strip or whatever it's called: So the people coming over from Apple will probably expect to find good build quality. I'm really sorry to say this, but my experience in this regard wasn't all that good.

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Quoting: natewardawgI have some family coming soon from the US. Does anyone have experience getting a packed up desktop computer as luggage on a plane? Sounds a little bit risky to me. Thanks!

A large case with all the parts installed is too risky for luggage that's checked-in (the one that goes to the baggage compartment on a conveyor belt); that luggage gets tossed around like crazy, so something's bound to come loose and hit and grind against everything else in the case.

Someone could take the case as carry-on luggage, and take it inside with themselves into the cabin. But then that uses up the hand luggage allowance. Also the case might not be all that much safer in the overhead lockers; and it wouldn't fit under the seat in front.

I think the best option is to get the parts separately, and distribute the individual boxes to your backpack, and the checked-in luggage. I did this a couple of years ago on a flight from Chicago, with a layover at London Heathrow. In Chicago, I asked a TSA (security) person whether I needed to take anything out of my bag (which had the motherboard, ram sticks, the processor, and a graphics card in their original boxes; everything else [power source, cooler, extra fans; *no case*] was in my checked-in luggage) and he said no. The bag went through the xray, but then they set it aside for an additional manual check. The person doing the check had no idea what the electronics were, but luckily she didn't ask me to 'turn anything on'. At Heathrow, I took the electronics out onto a tray just as I'd do with a laptop; and went through security like that; no problems there.

So it's possible to do; but it's a bit of work for the person carrying the items. Then you could just get a case in your city, and install everything yourself.

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Quoting: KelsI'm a pauper too, so sales like this are one of the rare times I get to splurge and actually get games I want.

It's not much fun when you can't afford discounted prices, though. :(

(And saying this certifies me as a gluttonous hypocritical bastard, because I have loads of games accrued over the years through bundles and giveaways, and many of them I haven't launched even once.)

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This has nothing to do with the game (which looks really interesting) -- but is anyone else irked by the everyday connotations that have stuck on the poor author's name? "Orwellian ... as Orwell said", etc. And now in this game we have a 'government security program' named Orwell.

It's as if the poor guy invented or advocated nefarious means of surveillance, thought control through impoverished language, and so on.

If anything, an 'Orwellian' (god...) name for that sort of surveillance program would be something like "Digital Privacy", or "Right to Anonymity", etc.
"Doublespeak", you know....

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Good thing I'm a pauper! So I don't have to worry about sales or such.
Haha.
ha.
Yeah it's great.
Not having money, it's so cool.
haha.

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Quoting: zimplex1Steam has been going downhill in terms of quality for a few years now... That's why I've been trying to use GOG more and more. The lack of quality control will be Steam's downfall.

Your profile pic gives away by whom you've been indoctrinated.
Just kidding, I've been indoctrinated by him too.

Not sure how I feel about the cornflakes homunculus, though.

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