Gooday Gaming Guests - Elo's Journey Through the Green Brick Road #1

Episode Date: December 28, 2024

I am starting with one of the earliest gaming systems Magnavox Odyssey.

Alright, so this afternoon we're going to do something fun, sticking with the same kind of, I'm going to go back to the original Magnavox Odyssey, like one of the earlier, I could probably even go earlier, I had some of those other Pong system games, I could probably get GPT to one of them but we'll set we'll start with one so what I want to do is I want to learn electronics it's pretty basic and we've learned know that anything computers phones all that it's just a manipulation of electricity to make something work so I'm trying to figure out a way that I can learn better and maybe be able to share it on how to learn how say just one specific motherboard works i mean obviously you can't learn the really new stuff but maybe the old stuff if i can just

at least learn the old stuff so if you look at a motherboard there's all kinds of caps and resistors and chips and all this all this stuff why do you need all that stuff just to get from one point point in to point out that's what i want to do so when i come up with an idea and actually so far it's working out i want to go further with it but we're going to call it the uh the green brick road that's what i decided so what the green brick road is going to be it's going to be a walkthrough of any motherboard. We're just going to do gaming motherboards. For right now, we're just going to do really old ones because there's not much of a walkthrough as opposed to, say, like a PS4, which would be like a city walkthrough or universe.

Whereas the Odyssey should be a smaller walkthrough, like a country walkthrough. And what I mean by that is I want to... I already named the character, so we're going to call him Elo. Elo is short for electricity. That's his name now. So Elo is going to be our character who's going to start right at the point of when you plug electricity into your gaming system. So what I want to do is use Elo to walk down the green brick road, which is the trace lines

or other connections to and from components and learn. First of all, we'll have ELO is going to be ID'd as a voltage, so we'll know. ELO is at, I think we started out down further here. I got Chat PT to do a pretty cool thing. So ELO starts at 6 volts, so coming out of the power adapter at 6 volts. So then we take ELO and we walk him down the path, the path being all the stuff it has to go through to be manipulated to finally make the thing work for whatever reason.

So what I want to do in the future, right now we're doing it as words, but I'd like to make some sort of a gaming program uh where you can actually physically elo would actually be a character three-dimensional that you can walk through a motherboard component by component like go to go to the next component look around see what see what what it's doing why it's doing it kind of thing i think it's really fun it's what i've been wanting to do for a while. But I can tell you what though. Chat GPT and AI in general

really helped me open my mind up more. Which is really fun. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without it. I always had the ideas but the actual even to get it to get to what I wanted. So first I gotta make sure there's an issue with AI where I ask it to show me an exact board of the original Magnavox Odyssey,

and it just gives me weird boards that are not that. So I don't even know. And then I ask it if it knows the exact circuitry, like going from each, each, each point to the next point to the next point, as if I was Elo, the electricity. But I don't know if it's actually really doing that. Uh, I've been doing boot up processes, but again, I'll run, I'm going to run out of stuff and now I'm already getting into more advanced stuff. So I'm going to back up. I decided to.

Now I want to look at the boot. Not the boot process. But the whole. The actual working of a motherboard. Through electricity's eyes. Which is ELO. Pretty basic stuff. Pretty fun.

So I went through a bunch of stuff. Talking to him about what I wanted. And then finally I got to somewhere. And I was like, oh yeah, this is actually pretty cool. So let me get to it. I kept asking different questions. First start, our character, it's electricity. This is me.

We will call him Elo. He liked that idea. All right, it says, when Elo arrives at the power input plug, the door to the, I called it, so it's entering the door going into the into the motherboard the door to the green brick road is 12 volts DC standard voltage by the Magnavox Odyssey Elo approaches the door the power plug with a 6 volt energy glow ready to embark on the journey so this is all AI well so i just told kind of give an idea and it kind of made a little story out of it which is pretty fun

but in the future uh i'd like to get a visual as well did give me a little flow chart too as the door opens he faces his first challenge entering the voltage regulator where his energy will be stabilized for the next steps on the road again just its journey on the Green Big Road all right so what would you like to say and then I said I want to add some sort of a bubble over the character saying what volts were at at each point. So, stop one. Power plug, power input plug. Eli's voltage is six volt.

Bubble shot. I've read the six volts of energy. Let's see where this road takes me. What happens here? Energy flows into the system through the power plug, providing the initial energy source for the motherboard. Next stop. Eli moves to the voltage regulator. This is where energy will be stabilized. system is through the power plug providing the initial energy source for the motherboard next stop elo moves to the voltage regulator this is where energy will be stabilized and prepared for just distribution so imagine this as a 3d game of sorts where i can actually walk the guy through

stop at each area and learn about what it's doing and see what what Elo is at for voltage because the whole point of this is to once I learn it then I can say alright so I have this X board here and it doesn't work and can we use the same kind of process to figure out why it doesn't work that's basically I'm looking for would you like to proceed with ELO's journey to the voltage regulator and explore how it handles voltage? The whole point of what we said was that the electronics is just a manipulation. So how electronics manipulates electricity, regulation, control switches, amplifiers, storage, capacitors, conversions, conversions through oscillation, transfer, energy into two different forms, ACDC, communication, output.

Following, all right, so I understand why even this board, there's so many components. I'm trying to understand that. Electricity needs to be managed. Raw electricity from the power source is not directly usable. It needs to be regulated and distributed at precise voltages to avoid damaging components. Synchronizing is essential in games. Visual elements, sound, input, and time. Otherwise, the game would not be playable.

Oscillation and sync circuits provide precise timing signals for smooth gameplay and display. Again, I'm doing this at the basic 1970s Odyssey. But I think the concept to any gaming system will be the same, just very more complicated. Even the simplest games require logic to determine how objects like paddles move. Transistors and dials are used to create logic gates that process the game's rules. See, that's where I'm at. I'm stuck at it. Logic gates. I get it.

The board must take simple logic signals and convert them into forms of TV on display. The RF module takes raw video and audio signals and combines them into a TV-compatible format. So signals are... Video and audio signals are also very interesting to me. Each I don't really understand yet. Each function of the game requires specialized circuits.

Spot generators create moving objects on the screen. Sync circuits ensure they appear in the correct location. The Odyssey uses analog circuitry. So it's like the basic. Unlike modern digital microchips and all that. So we're just doing analog. One way to learn is to start from the beginning. Each component, the lack of integrated systems,

meant that every function, timing, logic, graphics, required separate discrete components. Over time, the process was miniaturized into IC chips, integrated circuits, but in the Odyssey era, this level of complexity was cutting edge. All right, so let's see, yes, then I said, all right, so let's learn the voltage as we go through the green brick road here with ELO. And we we're back to this is where I think we get to it so we're gonna go again to stop one the power input plug ELO's voltage 9 volt DC what happens here ELO enters the power input plug carrying raw energy

from the external power adapter at this stage electricity is unregulated it might have noise and minor inflection. So that's the other thing, noise. A lot of these components get rid of the noise. The plug serves as a doorway, delivering energy to power all the components.

Eli's bubble chat. Hello, 6 volts here. Let's see if I'm steady enough for this adventure. So this is all on AI now It's pretty funny Stop 2, the voltage regulator Eli's voltage 6 volts DC

Down to 5 volt DC What happens here The voltage regulator ensures Eli's energy is stable and precise It steps down the 6 foot input input to a safe, consistent five-volt required for the rest of the components. Any noise or fluctuations are smoothed out here to avoid disrupting the board's operations. Ah, Eli's bubble chat. Phew, I just got cleaned up and trimmed to five volts.

I feel so stable and ready for action. This is pretty funny, actually. Next step. ELO flows through capacitors for additional smoothing and storage. So now we're at stop 3, capacitors. ELO's voltage, volt DC steady capacitors act as small storage tanks holding bursts of electricity and releasing it as needed this smoothens out any remaining fluctuations ensures a steady supply capacitors also filter out unwanted high frequency noise in the power line.

Eli's Bubble Chat. I'm in the capacitor lounge getting buffed and smoothed out. Now I'm flowing like a calm river. Next step. Eli moves to transistors. This is where things start to get exciting with switching and amplification. All right, so we're at stop four, transistors. Eli's voltage, 5 volt DC, active, switched.

What happens here? Transistors act as teeny switches or amplifiers, controlling Elo's flow based on input signals. These are critical for creating logic circuits that the game uses for decision-making. Depending on the game card inserted, the transistors may turn on or off to process specific logic like determining whether paddle or ball should move. Eli's bubble chat. Phew, I'm getting flipped on and off like crazy. These transistors are making me work hard. Next step. Eli heads towards the logic gates

where the real brain work happens. Okay, so now we're at logic gates. Eli's voltage is 5 volt DC still. Binary logic. What happens here? Logic gates use the transistors on and off states to perform operations like AND, OR, and NOT.

These gates handle the basic rules of the game, such as detecting collisions or scoring. Eli gets channeled into specific paths based on the game, such as detecting collisions or scoring. Eli gets channeled into specific paths based on the game's logic, creating the signals needed for gameplay. Elo's bubble chat. I'm in the brain zone now, solving puzzles and making decisions.

This is where the magic begins. Very fun. of the puzzles and making decisions this is where the magic begins very fun uh elo travels to the oscillators to pick up rhythm from sync synchronization all right so now we're at oscillators uh eli's voltage still nine five volts dc it's time pulses. What happens here? Oscillators provide a steady clock signal, ensuring all components are synchronized. This timing signal is crucial for smooth gameplay and constant video output. Eli flows in precise rhythmic pulses like a metronome for the system. Eli's bubble chat. Tick tock. I've got the rhythm now.

Everything is in sync, thanks to these oscillators. The next step is ELO flows to the spot generator to create visuals. So we're at number seven. All right, so number seven is Spot Generator. Elo's voltage is still 5 volts. DC, it's at signal waveform.

What happens here? The Spot Generator creates waveforms that correspond to visual elements like paddles and balls on the screen. Elo gets shaped into specific patterns that represent objects in the game. Elo's bubble chat. Look, I'm a paddle now. Let's see what shape I take next. Next step. Elo heads to the RF module to prepare for TV display. It's now at number 8, which is the RF module to prepare for TV display. All right, so now we're at number eight, which is the RF module. Elo's voltage is combined signal, video, and audio.

So the voltage changed. It's not actually a volt. See, that's where I get lost. We're at five volts, and now we're at audio and video. What does it say? What kind of volts? What happens here? The half-mile combines Elo's video and audio signals into a format compatible with the TV.

Elo gets a final transformation ready to exit the system and display on the TV screen. Elo's bubble chat. I become the star of the show. Time to hit the TV and. Elo's bubble chat. I've become the star of the show. Time to hit the TV and show off my moves. Final output. TV display.

Elo's journey ends here where all the manipulations result in a playable game displayed on the TV. Let's see. But I want to ask it... RF module. Module.

So, this is still basically a boot-up kind of thing. It's not quite what I want. I want to do, like, I want it to hit every exact component and, like, whatever they're marked as, you know, whatever they are, and know what each one does. And kind of in this format. That'll take a while to get there, but. RF module. Module.

Module. Eater. Is at what volts? So I'm asking, so I'm staying at 5 volts, and then when I got to the RF modulator, it just says combined signal. It just says, where is that coming from? Oh, it gave me a graphic too, which is pretty cool.

Let's go down. Did I lose it? Alright. So the RF module typically operates at 5 volts, which is the standard voltage, to provide most common on Odyssey.

Input volts roll. The RF module takes the processed video and audio signals from the system. I don't know how those are created. Elo's bubble chart at this stage. I'm cruising through at 5 volts,

blending video and audio magic to create a TV signal. Time to hit the airwaves. Where is the audio and video signals coming from

so again I'm trying to understand the manipulation of electricity to run anything the audio and video signals let's see what they got So again, I'm trying to understand the manipulation of electricity to run anything. The audio-view signals, let's see what they got. Generated with a specific circuit dedicated to their tasks. Alright, so video path, video signal path. Spot generators. The spot generator creates on-screen visual elements such as the players

bots paddled balls output a raw a raw video waveform represents position and the movement sync circuits roll provide synchronization signals for horizontal and vertical scanning timing scene required for the tv display to image correctly. Output. Sync pulses combined with the top generator output to form the full composite video. Composite video signal. The combined output of the spot generator and the sync circuit is the final video signal sent to the RF modulator. Path.

Spot generator. Sync circuits. Composite video signal. RF modulator. Audio signal paths. Logic circuits. Generate audio signals based on the game's logic, such as sound effects, scoring, collision.

Simple audio tones, which are from the audio signals, audio mixer, combined multiple audios into one signal, the final audio, the logic. So the path of the audio is logic circuits, audio mixer, audio signal, RF. So both of those are generating, and now I'm in the RF RF module a role the RF module combines the composite video and audio signal into a single RF signal this RF signal is then output onto the TV through the antenna cable allowing both audio and video to be displayed together. Eli's bubble chat at this stage. I'm picking up video signals from the spot generator and sync

circuits in the audio tones from the game logic. Now I'm blending it all together for the TV. Let me know if you'd like more ideas. So that's kind of where I'm at now. See now I want to take this to the next level. I asked it for a flowchart. So I got a little flowchart. I'm going to download it. And I'll make that my little visual. Let's see if I can get this to download.

I'll download the flowchart. And that'll be... But in the future, my Greenberg road with elo is going to be like a character and you can basically almost like a game where i can walk through each each each spot but like i said i really would like to do every specific component on any board. But even if it's just these really old boards because there's not as many components. But I still learned just from doing it this way.

So that was pretty fun. I'm going to do more of these because it's pretty fun. We'll just stick with the really old stuff though. And I'm going to see if I can get... I don't think. I can't get AI to like. Show me the whole circuitry. Of a board.

Or I can't even get them to show me. The correct layout of a board. So until I can get it to actually know. What the board does. Well it does know what it does. But it doesn't. It's not exact. Because like if you look on a motherboard. Each component has a number usually on it. The chips and all that. what it does but it doesn't it's not exact because like if you look on a motherboard each component

has a number usually on it the chips and all that they're all specific like u5s or r3s and stuff like that so i want to be able to go like from kind of like playing candyland going from each component to the next one but keeping an eye on elo to see where he's at voltage wise or whatever else is manipulating at that point pretty fun all right so that's my little thing for today i'm gonna i'm gonna build on that but that's that's my base right now for that so all right you guys have a good afternoon we're going to the weekend i'll see you tomorrow tomorrow all right