Just when I thought the world couldn't get any more amazing for hacking stuff this week (M-VAVE FM1's firmware bonanza is a delight!), now I have a freakin' damn good reason to get my Vectrex out of storage (okay, another freakin' damn good reason) and give it a modern kick in the ol' capacitors.
Sheesh, hackers. Things are getting positively juicy. What's next, a hack that makes the Vectrex function as a HUD for DCS, maybe? (Hint: someone is indeed working on this...)
Awesome, I love it. I never even heard of the Vectrex before. I'm guessing it was too expensive for most people since it's basically a whole arcade machine.
As a kid, it was incredibly exciting to see in person! It was pretty small (had a 9" CRT) and $200 (~$650 today). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vectrex
I don't want a Vectrex, but I do want a vector CRT display and driver I can use with a modern computer. They don't make them anymore; not even for oscilloscopes.
Turns out that’s what a Vectrex is! Or can be. As a pointless weekend project, I opened up my Vectrex, disconnected its logic board from its analog board, and gave it a new controller so an external computer can drive it. It doesn’t look as good, because the clever circuitry in the original to keep the beam velocity consistent lives on the digital board, but I think I can fix that in the controller firmware. Yet another post for my nonexistent blog.
I didn't get my Vectrex in the 80's, I had real computers instead, which I used to gather the wealth required to .. finally .. get myself that Vectrex I always wanted .. So I personally can't wait for this thing to ship .. it'll be the 80's all over again, but faster/better/stronger/cooler.
Sheesh, hackers. Things are getting positively juicy. What's next, a hack that makes the Vectrex function as a HUD for DCS, maybe? (Hint: someone is indeed working on this...)
1980s TV gaming consoles may not have had high resolution, but they were less visually monotonous than glowing lines on black.
* Consider that Asteroids is the only vector-based game listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_in_video_games
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroids_(video_game) was already three years old by the time Vectrex hit the market
(from https://vectrex.com/vectrex-mini-details/)
you got me excited for a moment there.