pinball

Jeri Reverse Engineers an HC55564 Chip from an Old Pinball Machine

Jeri Reverse Engineers an HC55564 Chip from an Old Pinball Machine

In her latest Intersil “Academy of Analog Pinball Wizardry” video, Jeri Ellsworth replaces an HC55564 Continuous Variable Slope Delta (CVSD) codec chip with one she reversed engineered into an FPGA. What in blue-blazes is a CVSD modulator? Watch the vid and find out — as usual, Jeri does a great job of showing how it works, how she reversed engineered it, and what the result are.

DIY videotape pinball

Some time last year, there was a bunch of news about how VCR tapes would no longer be manufactured. Around the same time I noticed that none of the VCRs showing up at the dump had digital tuners. Wouldn’t it have been nice if those manufacturers could have dropped in a little extra circuit board […]

Making Austin Weird: Pinball Cake

Making Austin Weird: Pinball Cake

From now until the awesomeness that is Maker Faire Austin, I’ll be highlighting projects that you can find at Travis County Fairgrounds on 10/18-19. Tickets here; see you there! What a wonderful combination: We will be creating a functioning pinball machine cake entitled “Maker Cake.” Maker Faire attendees will have the opportunity to play real […]

Visible pinball @ Maker Faire

Visible pinball @ Maker Faire

The visible pinball machine makes for some great still images – but seeing it function in person is an eye-opening mechanical learning experience. There’s a lot more action beyond the playfield – This project started as most do; out of necessity. I was teaching classes in Interactive Kinetic Art (pinball) and I had a need […]