Some parts of this underground tram line have a wonderful cyberpunk feel!
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Some parts of this underground tram line have a wonderful cyberpunk feel!
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Some parts of this underground tram line have a wonderful cyberpunk feel!
Pretty sure I’ve been there in a couple of video games!
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Pretty sure I’ve been there in a couple of video games!
@cthululemon It definitely has that kind of feel to it.
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Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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Rojava: espulsi 16 internazionalisti dal kurdistan turco. carovana dei popoli bloccata al confine tra grecia e turchia
@anarchia
In Siria la resistenza YPG – YPJ sembra avere fermato, per ora, l’avanzata delle milizie salafite del cosiddetto governo di transizione. Le forze del confederalismo democratico in Rojava hanno
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Current* conditions near Alpena, MI:
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Fixing Sony and Philips’ Doomed CD-i Console
Although not intended to be a game console, the CD-i would see a a couple of games released for it that would cement its position in gaming history as the butt of countless jokes, some of which still make Nintendo upset to this day. That aside, it’s still a fascinating glimpse at the CD-based multimedia future envisioned in the early 90s, starting with its release in 1990. Recently [MattKC] decided to purchase another CD-i in a fit of nostalgic rage, and repair it to show the world what the future could have been like.
Although Sony and Philips co-developed the device, Sony would go on to release the PlayStation a few years later, which made the CD-i’s life and expectations for it that much harder, leading to it slowly fading into history. The Magnavox one that [MattKC] got is one of the later models, based on the CD-i 450 that was introduced in 1994 as one of the more gaming-oriented models.
As is typical with older devices that use optical media, it would not read discs. It also would sometimes boot up with a ‘Memory Full’ error. This is a common fault due to the built-in battery having run out, erasing RAM-stored values and causing random glitches like this when garbage values were read in on boot.
Of course, there cannot be simply a removable battery on the mainboard. Instead it uses one of those integrated battery-RAM units, specifically an ST Timekeeper device.
These use an internal lithium battery which will inevitably run out after the guaranteed ten-year accumulated memory retention period, after which it’s just typical volatile memory. The solution here is to either replace the entire module, or the more appropriate method of chopping it open and wiring up an external CR2032 coin cell that can be easily replaced.
Ultimately this is what [MattKC] opted for, taking a Dremel to the Timekeeper chip and chopping off the top half. There are open replacements for the top half that contain the crystal and the CR2032 cell holder, which makes it into very clean-looking mod, and makes replacing the lithium cell in the future a snap. Of course, this didn’t fix the CD player.
The CDM 12.1 CD player mechanism is a standard module that Philips used throughout its consumer electronics, and is known for failing. Funnily enough, this time it wasn’t the laser module that had failed, but rather a stuck turntable. A bit of prodding helped to loosen it and the mechanism could read CDs just fine again.
While not a popular series of devices in their day, the CD-i actually has a thriving community around it today, featuring countless mods and hacks to make these devices do things never imagined in the 90s. They’re also quite easy to hack, and relatively affordable. Plus you get to play all the amazing Nintendo titles on the CD-i on the real hardware.
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Current* conditions near Drummond, MI:
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@nina_kali_nina valve has been fond of touch pads with subtle haptics in their controllers, and I've been wondering how far they'll be able to push that technology. I doubt they're anywhere near to being useful for braille yet, but it makes me think that cheap mass produced haptic elements could probably be used for something.
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@nina_kali_nina to some degree i understand these are treated like medical devices and can be partially covered by disability insurance schemes.
- and also the price is not just the device itself but a certain amount of support and verification of quality and durability
it sfill sucks though
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@nina_kali_nina a small bit of good news for people in the US with moderate hearing loss is our laws have been updated recently to allow the sale of hearing aids without requiring an expensive prescription or an audiologist. this has greatly brought down the cost. (I assume the ones rated for severe hearing loss that you need a prescription for are probably still absurdly expensive though)
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@nina_kali_nina surely, millions of people will be using hearing aids, and millions of people will have braille displays, thus economies of scale must exist. Those prices make me think of prices of medications like insulin which cost almost nothing to make and are sold for astronomical mark-ups. We absolutely can do better.
