Quake on an oscilloscope

December 29, 2014 12:08 AM

We've seen Doom on a printer (previously). Now it is time to render Quake on an oscilloscope.
posted by tykky (29 comments total)

That's very cool. I'm amazed that it actually seems playable.
posted by daisyk at 12:38 AM on December 29, 2014

That's totally amazing!

On the second level of the game, you run into the guy from "Take On Me."
posted by bicyclefish at 12:44 AM on December 29, 2014 [6 favorites]

Wow.

Was impressed by the enviroment, super impressed at the characters animating within it.
posted by Artw at 1:05 AM on December 29, 2014

I wrote a simple ociliscope 3d vector renderer for the lab portion of EE 350 at WSU back in the day. I wanted to do Battle Zone, but time did not permit.

Hat's off dude.
posted by The Power Nap at 1:09 AM on December 29, 2014

Very nice, but why are o-scopes still so expensive?
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 1:13 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

That's amazing! Can I play as Jeff Bridges?
posted by threecheesetrees at 1:22 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

Very nice, but why are o-scopes still so expensive?

They've come down in price a lot in the last few years. The Rigol 1054Z is about a tenth of the price of a similar scope from 5-10 years ago. If that's still too pricey look at the Rigol 1052E and the DSO Quad.
posted by grahamparks at 2:05 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

I really miss vector games, i.e. *real* vector games using a real vector scan display. No raster monitor can match that brilliant, searing glow.

I've often wondered if something like Geometry Wars is feasible on a vector display, given enough funds to throw at building it.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:29 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]

It kinda looks like how Neo sees things, after he realizes he is the One.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:30 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]

Oh, Quake with actual waveforms, not just loading it up on the fancy lab scope that runs Windows and has a mouse and keyboard. This is neater.
posted by ryanrs at 3:03 AM on December 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

i'm really surprised they didn't try out something like an older high end audio interface, like a motu 2408, that can be picked up for peanuts nowadays because everyone wants 24/96.

i have never gotten a cleaner, flatter, or hotter(if you want it) signal with a jawesome SNR/noise floor/etc than i still get out of that 15+ year old interface. the low frequency rumble/weirdness they mention and i bet some of the distortion in the lines that shows up at times could probably be wiped out by that. I've picked up and dropped several interfaces(or onboard cards, etc) for weird distortion or coloring of the signal like that.

It's from the era where they recommended a "powerful machine like a 200mhz pentium II", and i have yet to find anything actually better. Stuff that equals it in actual quality of the converters, preamps, and such still costs big bails of cash.

The thing they're using looks like the kind of super cheapo usb interface that comes built in to gaming headsets. I really think they could get a boost in quality by using something designed from the start for really clean I/O of audio. I might even fire off an email to them.
posted by emptythought at 3:27 AM on December 29, 2014 [5 favorites]

Doom on a printer.
Quake on an oscilloscope.
Wolfenstein on an ATM.
Dark Forces on a Casio calculator watch.
Diakatana on a microwave.
Half Life on a satnav.
Counter Strike on a Fitbit.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:35 AM on December 29, 2014 [14 favorites]

That is amazing!

@EndsOfInvention
Would love to see "Dark Forces on a Casio calculator watch." :)
posted by misaac at 3:57 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

Carmageddon on a transmission control unit.
Beyond Good and Evil on a DSLR.
Stunt Island on a F-35 Helmet Mounted Display.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:03 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]

SIMON on a HAL.
Speak and Spell on a Cyberman.
Space Invaders on a Borg.
Dragon's Lair on an R2D2.
posted by ardgedee at 4:29 AM on December 29, 2014 [5 favorites]

Snake on a plane
posted by Phssthpok at 4:42 AM on December 29, 2014 [5 favorites]

Almost two decades later I still recognize The Slipgate Complex almost instantly.

I struggled mightily just to get Quake to run on a computer it was designed to run on.

This is impressive.
posted by vapidave at 5:09 AM on December 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

I imagine this is what gaming looks like after a very specific sort of apocalypse. Very cool.
posted by BungaDunga at 5:24 AM on December 29, 2014 [2 favorites]

"I'm sorry I'm late, I got distracted by this interesting article about atari vector generator design and spent too much time reading data sheets for series 54/74 ICs from the early 70's oh nevermind, have you guys ordered food already?"
posted by effbot at 5:32 AM on December 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

And if the new wave of digital scopes is too expensive for you, then truly excellent used analogue scopes (displaced by the above) are readily available on eBay. If you can't find something far better than you need for fifty bucks and a bit of hunting, then something ain't right.
posted by Devonian at 6:42 AM on December 29, 2014

This looks really cool. It would be neat to get a mod that makes the game look like that, maybe the atmosphere is toxic and you have to use a special helmet with an internal display.
posted by carter at 6:46 AM on December 29, 2014

He is puzzled and disappointed that he can get *only* a thousand lines on the display at a time through an audio frequency interface?
posted by localroger at 7:17 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is so incredible. I'd play a game with this aesthetic. Also, it reminded me of how incredible the sound design on Quake was.
posted by phooky at 7:34 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is so punk, I can't even believe it. Looks even cooler than the original. Great work, internet stranger.
posted by oceanjesse at 8:25 AM on December 29, 2014

Significantly easier on one of those new digital oscilloscopes that runs Windows Embedded.
posted by miyabo at 9:20 AM on December 29, 2014

Almost two decades later

Oh fuck.
posted by stopgap at 9:50 AM on December 29, 2014 [3 favorites]

Wow. Watching the video, I just got the sensation that, once we are able to upload our consciousness into a machine, this is how the universe will look and feel. Everything as explicit waveforms. Pretty eerie!
posted by darkstar at 10:55 AM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

BTW, almost anyone can run Doom on something as tiny as a Sansa Clip+ MP3 player or many other teeny tiny media players if it's running Rockbox.

It's really kind of screwy. I could conceivably swallow or, ahem, otherwise insert not only a running, functioning computer that can manage to Doom while also being a radio, voice recorder, MP3 player and a bunch of other stuff, but it could also basically hold all of the music I've collected in the last 20 years on a plastic chip so small I could hide it up my nose or in a tooth.

I've had some variation of the Sansa Clip for 3-4 years now and I'm still irrationally paranoid I'm going to lose it or leave it in a pocket and run it through the wash, or accidentally swallow it, or "I swear, doc, it was a million to one shot, it was in my back pocket and I just sat down kind of fast! I didn't even know it was in there! I thought my dog ate it!"
posted by loquacious at 9:52 PM on December 29, 2014 [1 favorite]

can run Doom on something as tiny as a Sansa Clip+ MP3 player
Holy crap you're right. Well, Doom as played through an electric blue blizzard.

I'm still irrationally paranoid I'm going to lose it or leave it in a pocket and run it through the wash,

Completely rational, I lost one via each of these methods. Amazing little devices though. I should load Rockbox up on my most recent.
posted by BungaDunga at 5:37 PM on December 30, 2014